The Wizard Son of Sparda
by Gimlifan8
Summary: Dante, the eleven years old son of the legendary Sparda, is living in an orphanage when a half-giant gives him a letter that says he has been accepted into Hogwarts. Dante finds out that Sparda is not the only famous person in his bloodline. How will he cope at Hogwarts? Or better yet, how will Hogwarts cope with him? NO ROMANCE! NO DmC! Rated T for safety.
1. Prologue

**Hi everyone! So this plot gripped me some years ago and finally I had to write it down. I don't understand why this hasn't been done before, as this seems to be the most natural way to bring characters from another fandom into the Harry Potter universe. But as far as I know, it hasn't been done in a DMC+HP crossover until now.**

**I did my best to keep the characters consistent. My first published crossover, so no flames would be nice. This story was a great journey for me, I laughed, cried, became sad, became excited and et cetera. I hope this will be the same for you.**

**Also, the idea of Dante being Aberforth's grandson is actually borrowed from FaeryMage's 'Of Wizards and Demon's: Hogsmeade's Devil Hunter'. I recommend everyone to check it out because the story is awesome.**

**For now, it's just the Prologue, but I hope to update fairly regularly, so you guys won't have to wait long should you choose to.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own DMC, and nor, for that matter, Harry Potter series. **

**And, here we go!**

Prologue

A wizardry School.

Dante had yet to come to term with that concept. For one thing, and that was a strong reason, he didn't appreciate his mother being called a 'witch'. The word itself sounded evil, and he repeatedly shut out the voice in his head that reminded him he had no way to complain, being half-devil and all.

Son of a demon and a wi- scratch that, magical woman. Dante supposed that was ample reason for his and his twin's eccentrics.

Thinking of Vergil always brought that pang in his chest that three years had done little to sooth. In here, the orphanage, he was looked upon as either the spawn of the devil himself (teachers and bullies), or a superhero (bullied children). The only exception had been his brother, the only child equal to his talents and sheer power. And he had to go and kill himself in show-off of heroics.

Yeah, he never thought he'd say it, but he missed the brat.

_Your sheer idiocy never ceases to amaze me, brother. Sentiments cannot-_

"Shut the hell up, Verge." Dante growled to the monotonous voice in his head, and then realized he had spoken aloud.

"Sorry?" his roommate frowned at him.

"Nothing." Dante waved a hand dismissively. Their room was in the second floor of the old orphanage, with cracks and holes in the ceiling, plaster peeling off of walls. Dante absent-mindedly studied the faded gray of the plasters. Once it must have been white. Like their cottage in the small, quiet village at the foot of the mountain. The sun used to shine over the red tiles when he sparred with Vergil in the lawn. Late afternoon, the diminishing rays would fall on the armchairs just beside the flower beds, his father would be standing straight with his hands clasped behind his back as he analyzed their moves, and leaning forward on one of the chairs, hands gripping the handles in excitement and shouting encouragements would be his….

"Okay there, Tony?"

Dante shook himself off, angrily wiping at his eyes. Fool that he was to even think of such things…"Fine. Just got carried away."

A sympathetic look. Everyone here were orphans, they understood the pain memories caused. For some reason, that bothered Dante. Sympathy helped when one wanted to move on, not when one wanted to just lock himself away and hate fate for placing him in this position. They all thought they understood. Dante knew they'd never understand. They'd never know what it was like to be _different _and then having the only persons who _knew_ taken away forever.

And he knew nobody in the wizardry world would understand him either. Not completely, they were _humans._ But he also knew he had to strengthen his powers, be it magical or demonic, in order to survive.

Which was why he had said 'yes' to the giant guy that came this morning.

_Flashback:_

_Dante frowned as he did a back flip effortlessly, but failed to get the sword in a straight arc in mid-air. He was deep inside the 'mini-forest', as Dante had taken to call it, behind the orphanage. It was a new moon night, so no chance of being seen, but only a half hour until dinner began. He had to get this move right before then. A shadowy demon was lurking about the area, one that he was going to hunt down tonight. This one never got down in the ground, so he had to use moves in mid-air._

_Getting a half-arc before he was down on the ground, he was going up again when he heard motorbike in the vicinity. A second later, his superior hearing clearly heard the words, "I have a message for Tony Redgrave."_

_He swung himself up through the branches of the tallest tree, crouching behind some leaves. He looked down._

_A giant was talking with the head of the orphanage. It seemed to be male, with big beards and a baggy overcoat, holding a big umbrella. The headmaster was just up to its stomach length, so a fitting thing to compare its height was the growing apple tree beside it._

_A demon was Dante's first guess. He gripped his sword, ready to fight if it came down to it. His mother had already given her life for him; he wasn't going to let any more people die in his place._

_A moment later, he let out a sigh of relief. Demons capable of assuming human form wouldn't give out letters in his name. And that was exactly what that giant was doing._

"_I'll send for him." The headmaster was saying. "He's in the hostel."_

_Dante jumped all the way down, landing in a crouch. He had to be back in the room._

_Dante was still panting as the woman walked into his room._

"_There's a gentleman looking for you, Tony." She said. "Come with me."_

Gentleman,_ Dante mentally scoffed. _Maybe I could call him that…if I was a dinosaur back at Jurassic Park. Haven't this guy ever heard of razors? No, check that, this one needs a sword…one as big as Rebellion.

But no way I'm gonna lend him…

_He stepped through the entry to the Headmaster's office to see an interesting sight._

_The headmaster was staring in horror at his broken desk, and the giant was waving his hands frantically._

"_Didn' mean ter do that, lemme fix it, c'mon, stand aside…"_

_The headmaster clutched a broken piece almost in a protective way, eyes wide as saucers. He was sweating._

_Dante was having too much fun seeing their stern sir so cowed to just barge in, but the woman beside him interrupted them by announcing Dante's presence._

_The man looked so relieved. "Ah, Tony, come right on in." he said. "Mr. Hagrid, this is Tony Redgrave."_

_The giant – Hagrid, smiled in what he probably hoped would be reassuring._

"_Rubeus Hagrid." He said, holding out a hand. "Keeper o' keys an' grounds at Hogwarts."_

_Dante raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms silently. The giant withdrew his hand, looking a bit disappointed. Dante didn't care. He wasn't going to break his hand over this._

"_This is fer yeh." Hagrid said with a small smile, handing the letter out. Dante flipped it open, scanning it quickly._

_Dear Mr. Redgrave,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

_There were some papers attached. It described the things he'd need to take._

"_I'm going to a wizardry school?" Dante asked in disbelief._

"_Of course. And I'm 'ere to get yeh the things yer gonna need."_

_Dante scoffed. "And why would I wanna go?"_

_The giant looked really surprised at his words. "Why won't yeh? Yeh don't wanna learn magic?"_

"_That's what they're gonna teach me? Sorry pal, I don't do pointy hat-tricks." _

_Now he looked angry. "Yer a half-blood, right? Yer parents never told yeh that yeh need to learn magic?"_

_Dante pointed a finger at him. "My parents are dead, dude. Maybe they-" he stopped mid-sentence._

"_Did anyone named Eva come to this school? Some 20 years ago?" he suddenly felt guilty for not remembering his mother's maiden name. It was something along the lines of 'Dunderbore', impossible. 'Dumbertone'? Not likely._

_The giant stared. "Eva Dumbledore?"_

That's what it was!

"_Yeah, yeah! Dumbledore! You knew her?"_

"_She was a good friend o' mine. Died some three years ago."_

_Dante snorted mirthlessly. "Believe me, I know. So she was at that school?"_

"_Yeah. But….what's that to yeh?"_

"_She's my mother."_

_The giant looked…really looked at him for the first time._

"_Dan-"_

"_Sir, can I talk privately?" he asked his teacher with as respectful as expression as he could muster. He had to get this guy alone for a while, and cocky words wouldn't get him there._

_The headmaster hesitated, looking uncertainly between the boy and the giant sized figure. Dante gave him a reassuring nod, and he stood from his chair, leaving the room with a simple "I'll be right outside."_

"_Dante or Vergil?" the giant finished._

"_Dante. Vergil's dead." He said bluntly, "You don't know that your friend's family's been burnt to the ground?"_

_To his surprise, the guy's eyes grew moist. "I though' yeh were all dead…" he said. "No one knew yeh survived. Not 'ven yer grandfather."_

_Dante's heart skipped a beat before starting an erratic pattern, breath coming out in short inhales and exhales. He forced himself to take a couple of deep, steadying breaths._

"_I have family? A grandfather?"_

"_Yeh. His name is Aberforth. An' a great Uncle. Albus Dumbledore. He's the headmaster in Hogwarts, and the finest wizard o' the century."_

"_Brilliant." He muttered. "And this whole time, I thought I had nowhere to go."_

_He hadn't meant to say it as seriously as it came out, and he certainly hadn't meant to set the guy off. But the giant burst into tears and gave him a hug that squeezed the life out of him. Dante bit his lip. If he was a human, he would've had a broken bone or two by then._

That umbrella could've come in handy now,_ he thought, as teardrops soaked into his hair._

_Finally, he pulled back, and simply breathed for a moment. The giant looked apologetic._

"_Eh, sorry."_

"_Forgiven." He gasped out. He stood, pushing the hair out of his eyes. "Count me in." he said, gesturing to his letter._

End of Flashback

The choice was made, no going back. He'd have to buy some things, and then, on September 1st, he'd be off to London. Giant hadn't said why he was going to a school in London, but he guessed it was either that there was only one wizardry school, or it was because his mother's uncle was the Headmaster, or because he was actually born in England.

Maybe this would be an improvement, maybe not. He'd wait and see.

Dante threw his coat towards the hook in the corner, not bothering to check if it had flown true, he never missed. Then he lay down fully dressed on his bed and waited for his roommate to fall asleep so he could go finish the shadowy demon running amok.

**Next up: Dante at King's Cross and introduction to Hogwarts!**


	2. Welcome to Hogwarts!

**A/N: Thanks to .5 and Devil Nerds for favoriting and pinkmonkey36, CrimsonChains, XxprojectfoxX, ptabs0101 and again Devil Nerds for following!**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue.**

Chapter 1

Dante slowly felt for his wand in his pocket. It was there. 14 inch, dragon heartstring core. It was made of beautiful, shining ebony.

He pulled his hand back, pulling out his ticket as he looked around. Platform 9 and 3/4, there had to be someone who could point him in the right direction…

A girl's voice alerted him to the presence of a couple standing beside him. The voice was from their child, a bushy haired girl about his age.

"I know it's the right place, mom! The Professor specifically told me-" she spotted Dante with his trunk and edged closer to her parents, lowering her voice. "Come on, dad! Trust me on this!" Dante's demonic hearing picked up every word.

"It's just-" the man looked uncertain. "It's a brick wall, Hermione!"

"Oh, I know, but I've read about it in my book. The wall was enchanted by-" she stole a glance at Dante, who had his arms crossed and was making no move to hide he was listening. "Not here." She said, tugging her parents by their hands.

"No place like here." Dante said, spreading his arms wide to block their way. "Looks like we're going to the same party."

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Dante sat beside the window, across from Hermione, who was struggling to heft her trunk on the top.

Dante watched her try for a full minute, before saying dryly, "You know, all you gotta do is ask."

She glared at him, and spoke through gritted teeth, "Would you help me lift the trunk?"

Figuring a 'please' would be too much to ask, Dante stood and pulled it up for her. A sigh escaped her as the trunk was settled on the top.

"Excuse me, do you mind?"

A boy was standing in the doorway, with a faint blush coloring his cheeks as if he had just done something bad as he gestured to the seat. "Actually-"

Hermione waved him in. "It was your seat before we came here, right?" she said, waving a hand towards the third trunk that was already placed on the top. "I can leave if you want." She said.

"No, no, no!" the boy's blush deepened. "It's okay. You can sit here."

Hermione smiled a bit to ease the boy's discomfort, and Dante patted the seat next to him, edging close to the window to make space.

"I'm Hermione Granger." She said once the boy was settled. "And you are?"

"Neville Longbottom." The boy said. Dante coughed to hide a laugh.

Hermione's glare turned on him as Neville blushed even more.

"Tony Redgrave." Dante introduced himself, not bothered one bit about the glare.

Hermione still fumed for a moment, before turning to Neville and resuming her conversation with him. Dante found himself staring out the window, suddenly feeling lonely. If Vergil was still here, maybe they'd be in this school together. He could imagine Eva beaming, and even his father, whom he had never really forgiven for leaving them, was there in his vision, smiling with an arm wrapped around their mother as the twins walked in the station, side by side and grinning at each other-

"Which house do you want to get sorted in?"

Dante was startled out of his thoughts by Hermione's voice. He looked to find Neville and her staring at him expectantly. Dante stared back with a puzzled look.

"Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin?" she elaborated.

Dante resumed his blank stare. Hermione sighed in exasperation.

"Haven't you read anything? Hogwarts has four houses! We'll be sorted into them in the sorting ceremony, according to our inner abilities."

That got his interest. "Which for which?"

"Gryffindor for the brave, Hufflepuff for the loyal-" Dante mentally ticked that one out of the possible houses for him, "Ravenclaw for the intelligent-" that didn't seem his type, either, "Slytherin for the cunning."

"I think I'll go with Griff- the first one." Dante said, shrugging.

Hermione lit up. "Me too! I think it'll be a good one."

"So," Dante crossed his legs at the ankles, "How are they gonna know who's got what abilities?"

"That was not stated in the book, but it did say Gryffindor had set a system in place-"

"Wait, wait, I thought Griffin core was a _house_?"

Hermione gave him a cool look. "It's Gryffindor, and you don't know the four founders of Hogwarts?"

"Well…" _Gotta be it, four houses named after four founders._"Griffin boar, Huff and Puff-"

It was Neville this time who coughed to hide a laugh. Hermione didn't look so pleased.

"Godric _Gryffindor_, Helga _Hufflepuff_!"

Dante waved it away dismissively. "Raccoonclaw-"

"Rowena _Ravenclaw_."

"-and Shimmering."

Neville laughed out loud before sending an apologetic glance at Hermione. Dante winked at him.

Hermione was giving Dante a scathing look. "SLYTHERIN!" she cried in exasperation. "Salazar Slytherin!"

"Whatever. Get a sense of humor, will you?"

Hermione turned her head away to stare outside, her glare redirected at the window glass.

"Anyway, so they made this place?"

"Yes." She said coldly, turning her nose up. "Forgive me if I don't find insulting four of the greatest wizards and witches of all time 'funny'."

Dante sighed, running a hand through his hair. _How much longer till Ho- What the…?_

He grasped at the slimy thing over his head with his fingers, frowning as he pulled it down. Neville lunged at his hand, snatching the toad out of his grasp.

"Trevor! You shouldn't be jumping around and disturbing Mr. Redgrave like that!"

"Just Tony, thank you." Dante said distractedly. "Wait, this is yours?"

"Yeah! Isn't he cute?"

Dante groaned inwardly, burying his face in his hands. "You gotta be kidding me."

Hermione reached out and cradled the toad. "Yeah, he's cute!" she stammered, poorly hiding her disgust. Neville didn't notice, though, and smiled shyly.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" a fat woman asked them, pushing a tray full of food.

Dante was suddenly reminded of the gold coins jiggling in his pocket. His mother had left him a fortune at Gringotts, the wizard bank.

He grinned. "Got any pizza?"

The woman shook her head. Dante's smile faded. "Strawberry sundae?"

"No, sorry, dear. Come over here, pick what you want."

Now a scowl in place, Dante walked over, but it faded as he saw all the food. He grinned again. "I'm starved!"

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"Bertie Botts every flavor beans?"

"Every flavor." Hermione confirmed for Dante. "There's Chocolate, Peppermints, Onion…."

Dante grimaced at the last part. "So basically, the good and the bad."

"Yeah. You gotta take a gamble." Neville chimed in.

Dante hesitated for a moment, before reaching down and taking a bean, popping it into his mouth. _My first ever try at gambling…_

He spat it out a moment later, coughing. "That's just my rotten luck." He said. "Rotten tomatoes."

Hermione smirked. "That's what you get for making fun of Great Wizards."

It was Dante's turn at glaring at her. "So you're gonna get a delicious flavor for worshipping the ground they walk on? A bunch of _dead _old farts can't change food scent."

Hermione kept her eyes on his as she pulled out a bean, tasted it and chewed at it with a smile. "Chocolate."

Dante flopped back on his chair with a sigh. _My first ever at gambling couldn't have been worse…_

"You do have bad luck." Neville said. "There's a lot of good flavors in this box."

"How can you tell?" Dante asked.

"By the colors!" Neville answered as if it was obvious.

Dante whipped his head around to look at Hermione, who smiled serenely.

"That's why you should read books." She declared.

"I'll pass." Dante grumbled, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning back.

"Actually….only a few handfuls can be told by colors…Oh no!" Neville exclaimed. Hermione jumped.

"What's wrong?" she asked anxiously.

"Trevor's gone!" Neville shook Dante by the arm. "Can you move over a bit?"

Dante bit back a sarcastic remark as he said as politely as he could manage, "If he was under me, I would've known."

Hermione had already finished looking under and over the seats. "He's not in the compartment." She said. "Don't worry, Neville, I'll bring him back." She moved out.

Dante sat up with a yawn. "How dramatic." He said under his breath. "Rescue mission, huh? You're gonna need a hero here… I'm in."

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He checked a few compartments before coming to one where three boys were sitting.

"Hey," he called, "Did you see a toad?"

A silver haired boy looked up. "Why, if it isn't the cast out American!"

Dante stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"

"You know, the boy rejected by the American ministry. What, you don't even know? What about those freakish powers for which they cast you out? Or maybe you don't know about that, either?

He laughed, the other two laughing along with him in a monotonous rhythm.

Dante narrowed his eyes. He didn't know what they were talking about, but he was going to find out. But all of that would have to wait.

"Too bad you don't have any powers, freakish or normal, huh?" he said with a nonchalant air. "That's why you have to keep those idiots with you at all times."

The boy flushed in anger. "Watch your mouth, tourist."

"Anything to keep my eyes off your ugly nose."

"Crabbe, Goyle!"

The two boys lunged at him on command. Dante deftly ducked and their heads collided. The two slumped to the floor.

He shook his head in comic resignation at their skills and looked up at the boy who had been talking. The boy was backed up, suddenly looking scared. Dante smiled in a friendly way that didn't quite reach his eyes. "That wasn't a particularly nice beginning, but we can just start over. Tony Redgrave. A pleasure to meet you…?"

The boy drew himself up, his eyes now glinting in anger. "Wait till my father hears of this, scoundrel. He'll send you back to whatever place you've come from!"

Dante snorted. "Daddy's boy, right? Well, if he can really put up with all of your whining then he's gotta be a formidable force."

Something flickered in the boy's face.

_So he doesn't! _Dante filed that away for future references. "Whatever, do as you please!" he called back to him and left the compartment, smirking to himself as he stepped over Crabbe and Goyle's slumped forms. He estimated they would be back to normal in a few minutes.

This incident was definitely the best thing that happened to him since he had gotten on the train. Suddenly Hogwarts didn't seem so boring anymore.

He stuck his head in the next compartment. "Anyone seen a toad?"

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He had finished searching his part of the compartments when Hermione came back with Neville, looking excited. She already had her school robes on, and Dante groaned.

_What a joke…_he thought, staring at the black robes. He had known the moment he had bought the school robe that wizards and witches had poor fashion sense, but actually seeing it on someone…

"Found the toad?" he asked.

Hermione tilted her head towards Neville. The boy was cradling his toad in his hand. He looked even more excited than Hermione did.

"Tony, Harry Potter is in this train!" he cried. "We'll be in the same year!"

"Who's that?"

Neville's eyes grew as round as his face. "You don't know who Harry Potter is?"

Dante shrugged. "Potters aren't my type. Gunsmiths, on the other hand…"

Hermione closed her eyes, rubbing the skin between her eyebrows, finally looking defeated. "Don't bother. One thing though: are you a muggleborn?"

"A _what?"_

"Nevermind!" she exclaimed. "You're hopeless!"

"Muggleborns are wizards with non-magical parents." Neville supplied helpfully.

"Oh." Dante said. "My father wasn't a wizard, but my mother was a witch, if that's what you're asking."

Hermione's shoulders slumped. "Oh, I'm so sorry." she said. Dante realized his use of past tense had given it away that his parents were dead.

He waved it off. "No probs. What about you?" he added in an attempt to shift the unwanted attention.

Hermione shrugged a bit. "Muggleborn." she said. "My parents were very excited when they learned I was going to a wizardry school, though."

"Oh." Dante looked at Neville.

"My parents are wizard and witch." He said softly. Dante looked at him more intently. There was a hint of sadness in his tone…..

"I'd say you should change into your robes. We're getting close." Hermione interrupted.

"Tell me again when we arrive." Dante said coolly, inwardly shuddering at the thought of wearing the clown dress. And the black hat….

His esteem of the wizards was getting lower by the second.

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Dante got in the same boat as Hermione, Neville and a big girl with black hair. The water beneath them was like crystal, and he dipped his hand in the water, laughing lightly as it cut through the current.

"There are dangerous beings in the lake." Hermione warned. "I've read about them-"

Dante smirked devilishly, drawing his hand back and-

SPLASH!

Hermione yelped in surprise as the water hit her face, and quickly reached with both her hands to wipe her eyes, dropping the lantern in the process. It disappeared in the water with a splash; Neville cried out in surprise as the water soaked his robes. The boat would've been bathed in darkness, were it not for the light coming from the other boats.

Dante was laughing. Hard. "Serves you right!" he gasped. "C'mon girl, live a little!"

Hermione angrily pulled out her wand, placing a drying charm on herself and Neville. Her eyes reflected the fire of the lanterns nearby as she turned to look at Dante.

"Look what you've done." she accused, looking around the lake. Dante turned to see everyone nearby staring at them.

He smirked. "Getting famous! This just keeps getting better and better!"

Hermione only scowled. "I really hope I don't get in the same House as you."

"Hey!" Dante protested. "Whatever House you get into, you're not gonna find another boy as handsome as me."

"And as irritating." she said. "I hope so, at least."

Dante shrugged. "Well, unlike you, I like to live in a lively manner."

She rolled her eyes and looked away.

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"Welcome to Hogwarts." The woman on top of the staircase greeted them all, looking at them over the top of her glasses. She was wearing a deep green robe, and her hair was pulled back into a tight bun. Dante had the impression, out of nowhere, that this was probably the Deputy Headmistress, McGongall. The one who wrote the letters.

Dante frowned a bit as Neville pressed into his side, obviously nervous. Not only him, in fact the whole crowd was pale, looking around nervously, sticking close to each other.

_What's the big deal?_

"The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly," said Professor McGonagall, "but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room."

_Just get on to it, grams…_

"The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Dante's absolutely messed up hair. Dante stared back coolly; her eyes hardened before she turned her gaze to the others.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," she said. "Please wait quietly."

As soon as the professor was gone, Hermione began muttering about all the spells she had learned and wondering which one would be needed. Dante rolled his eyes and stuffed his hand in his pocket, pulling out a small headphone and placing it over his ears.

"You can't bring that in-"

"They're not gonna kick me out for this." Dante cut her off. "And they won't even know which house to cut points from."

His loud voice had attracted attention, but Dante didn't care. Instead he tapped his fingers on his other palm, waiting for the rock song. It didn't come.

He frowned and looked down. The device wasn't working.

Hermione gave him a haughty look. "Electronics doesn't work here." She said by way of explanation.

Dante scowled. "Wizards are weirdos."

Then he turned to watch the decorations of the Entrance Hall. He couldn't really bring himself to care about the sorting, and certainly couldn't imagine himself failing a test of bravery. The last time he did that was three long years ago. He could still remember that, huddled in the hole in the wall, pale and trembling as he felt the whole house shake….

Fearful screams brought him back to the present. He looked up to see about twenty ghosts gliding in through a wall, conversing amongst themselves, not even noticing the students.

"Fogive and Forget." A fat, short ghost was saying, "I say we should give him a chance-"

"Hey, no one ever told you it's rude to ignore people?" Dante called, pulling down his headphone and stuffing it back in his pocket. "The least you can do is to introduce yourselves."

All the ghosts turned to him as one. Dante didn't have to look to know the other students had taken a step back. The ghosts weren't really bad looking, let alone menacing. Really, it seemed impossible to be afraid of them when the most harm they could probably do was going straight through one's body, which couldn't really damage.

The ghost who was talking laughed merrily at his words. The laugh was nothing like what the horror stories would suggest, it sounded perfectly human. "New students!" he said, still smiling. "We did not see you, young ones. I apologize for that. I'm Friar-"

"Fat Friar, if you don't mind." said another ghost, wearing a ruff and tights.

"Thank you, Nearly Headless Nick." The other one said, but his smile remained, "I'm the Hufflepuff House ghost."

"Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service." said the other one with a pointed glance at his friend. "Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"Haunted Houses?" Dante adopted a panicked expression. "Are there ghosts on the other house too?"

"Of course!" Nick said happily, completely missing the joke. "The other's are Bloody Baron, the Slytherin House ghost, and-"

"Move along now." McGonagall was back. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to start."

"Nice meeting you!" The Friar called before he disappeared with the rest. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!"

After the ghosts were all gone, McGonagall faced the students. "Now form a line, and follow me."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"These aren't real ceilings." Hermione said as they moved through the crowd, back in her lecture mood. "It's just bewitched to look like the night sky. I've read about them, in Hogwarts: A history."

Dante didn't answer her, but had to admit, the school was more impressive than any other structure he'd seen. He took in the thousands of lightened candles, the ceiling that looked like the sky and the sheer size of the hall. The older students were already at the tables. Dante guessed the four tables were for the four Houses; he could see the banners over them. If he had to pick, he would've chosen the red one, if only because it was his favorite color and lion seemed preferable to otters, birds or snakes.

They reached the table, and Professor McGongall stopped beside a tool with a worn looking hat on it, which soon began to sing:

"_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty, but don't judge on what you see, _

_I'll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me…"_

Dante fidgeted, his hand itching to throw something and knock off the stool. The hat had a horrible voice. But something told him the lot at the stuff table wouldn't like that.

"…_There's nothing hidden in your head the Sorting Hat can't see, _

_So try me on and I will tell you where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart, _

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart;"_

Dante was already sure he had found his House, minus the chivalry.

"_You might belong in Hufflepuff, where they are just and loyal, _

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil; _

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, if you've a ready mind, _

_Where those of wit and learning, will always find their kind; _

_Or perhaps in Slytherin you'll make your real friends, _

_Those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends. _

_So put me on! Don't be afraid! And don't get in a flap! _

_You're in safe hands (though I have none) for I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The room burst into applause. Dante snorted. "Talk about hat-tricks."

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," Professor McGonagall said, pulling out a large scroll. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A blonde girl stumbled over to the stool.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Dante kept an ear out for his own name, while he scanned the staff table. His gaze fell on the headmaster's chair first.

"Is that Albus Dumbledore?" he asked.

"Yes." Hermione whispered back.

_That's my mother's uncle? _Dante took the guy in. They had only one thing in common….the silver-white hair. As the Headmaster's warm blue eyes fell on Dante's icy ones, the former's eyes softened, and he gave a nod of acknowledgement. For whatever reason, this guy recognized him even though Dante never remembered meeting him.

'We got a hundred things to talk about.'Dante mouthed. Dumbledore nodded back, signifying he understood.

The sorting continued as Dante continued to size up the other staff, noting that the two boys that had tried to pick a fight with him were sorted into Slytherin. The two brutes were named 'Vincent Crabbe' and 'Gregory Goyle'.

"Granger, Hermione."

Hermione ran over, sitting on the tool and placing the hat on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

She smiled broadly, jumping off and sitting at the selected table. Dante noted Gryffindor was the House with the red and golden banner, and the symbol of a lion.

_Yeah, I can definitely live in that house…_

"Longbottom, Neville!"

Neville tripped over his own feet in his haste. Laughter sounded all over, and Dante was certain that both the Slytherins and Ravenclaws looked actually relieved when the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Malfoy, Draco!"

The silver haired boy he'd met earlier on the train swaggered up to the table, and put on the hat, which didn't wait a second before shouting, "Slytherin!"

Dante watched him join his lackeys on the table, who looked healthy enough by then. He shrugged, and decided to occupy himself by staring at the ghosts. A bloodied ghost sat at the Slytherin table, looking decidedly ghostly. Blank, haunting stare, cold face. _Bloody Baron…name fits!_

On the Ravenclaw table was a female ghost. Dante had to give it to her: She was good looking. Her eyes were sad, and she sat without a word. Nick didn't get the chance to tell him what the Ravenclaw ghost's name was, he remembered. Either way, these two Houses looked somewhat reserved, the Slytherins even a bit unhappy.

"Potter, Harry!"

The hall suddenly fell silent. Dante turned his head to see everyone focusing on the boy now walking to the hat. Then whispers broke out everywhere. Two redheads were already on their feet at the Gryffindor table. They looked exactly alike, so Dante guessed them to be identical twins.

A relatively ordinary looking boy with big glasses was settling on the top of the stool. As he pulled it on, his hair was pushed back a bit, and a lightning shaped scar could be seen on his forehead.

"It's him!" several voices whispered.

"He's the one!"

Dante raised his eyebrows. The hat was perfectly silent. Maybe Harry's messy hair was a much more comfortable place than the cold stool.

A whole minute the students waited with bated breath. Dante was finally making up his mind to cry, "Did I go deaf or everyone else mute?" when the hat cried, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The noise that followed was nearly enough to really deafen him. The twins screamed, "We got POTTER! We got POTTER!" and the other Gryffindors were also jumping up and down, making room for Harry to sit.

Nick the ghost patted Harry's hand, from the looks of it, the boy didn't enjoy the contact.

Dante shrugged to himself, and continued his surveys of the Hall until:

"Redgrave, Tony!"

Dante saw Dumbledore and Hagrid both straighten. He walked forward, sat on the tool and pulled on the hat.

"Hm. Very difficult. Two very different sides inside, one ambitious, but the other one exact opposite, a pure heart and boundless courage-" Why's it talking so loudly?

'Hey,' Dante whispered mentally, 'Can the whole room hear you?'

"Eh? No, of course not. Now, these are very conflicting, these two sides, constantly battling for dominance. But the latter of them seems to be more prominent, and I can see you want to keep it that way, so the best choice should be….Ah, yes, I know…."

The hat paused before shouting loudly, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Dante smiled in genuine delight, standing and making his way to the table where the students were now cheering. The hat had declared his human side as the dominating one, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

He shook hands with a tall boy with a 'P' badge, whose hair was a fiery red. He introduced himself as 'Percy Weasley'. He could see the identical twins, also Weasleys, probably, cheering. He sat next to Hermione, opposite Nick. The ghost smiled at him and reached out to pat his hand. Dante tried to grasp it. His hand went straight through, leaving his skin cold as ice.

"Oh. Sorry."

"Forgiven." said the ghost. "It's good to see you here. Then again, not many first years have the courage to talk to ghosts…I thought you might be in here."

"Why's that? You people seem a merry lot."

Nick gave a surprised chuckle. "Well…thanks."

Dante turned to Hermione after that. "Now I'm interested." He murmured. "Who the hell is Harry Potter?"

Hermione frowned at him, motioning to her side, where Dante just noticed that said person was sitting.

"It's not like we're badmouthing him." Dante said dismissively. "So who is he?"

"The Boy Who Lived." Neville supplied. He was sitting to the left of Hermione.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Dante ignored the cry, frowning at Neville. "Got the tense wrong, buddy. The boy still 'lives'."

A snicker caught his attention. He realized it came from Harry Potter. He noted the action; the boy was probably more interesting than met the eye.

"Harry Potter is-" Dante had to force his ears to listen to Hermione, "-the boy who was targeted by You-Know-Who-"

"Actually, I don't." Dante interrupted. Harry chuckled again.

"-But his spell rebounded off his forehead. Harry Potter still has a lightning bolt shaped scar where the spell had hit him."

"That doesn't explain a thing, you know that, right?"

Hermione tried again. "The Dark Lord-"

"Mundus?"

Hermione, for the first time, gave a blank look. "Who?"

"Nobody. Who's the Dark Lord?"

"You don't say his name!" Neville said, wincing. "He's the darkest wizard of the century!"

"That bad looking?"

Hermione cuffed him upside the head. "Ow! What the-"

Harry was grinning from ear to ear, though. "His name's Voldemort." He said quietly.

Dante raised his eyebrows. "Voldemort isn't a bad name." he said loudly.

Gasps echoed all around. Neville slapped his hands over his ears.

"Don't say that, Tony!"

"Why the hell not?" Dante asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Just trust me on this, okay?" Hermione murmured, looking really scared, though it was probably because she didn't want to draw attention. "Don't say that!"

Dante shrugged. "Whatever you say." He said. "Oldy Voldy, then."

Harry snorted with laughter. "I can-" he began.

"Sparda, Vergil!"

Dante's heart skipped a beat. _What…? Impossible! His brother was dead…right?_

But there he was, walking up calmly, white hair pushed back, cold eyes fixed on the hat.

Neville gasped. "Tony?" he asked. "He looks just like-"

Dante snapped his jaws shut, aware that he had his mouth open. "He's my twin." He whispered, suddenly feeling weak at the knees. The hall became blurry in front of his eyes, and he lowered his head, angrily swiping at his eyes.

_Not now, not now… _he chided himself, suppressing his overwhelming urge to simply run over and put his arms around clenched his fists,_ don't go weak, you can talk to him later…don't make a scene._

"You never told us you have a twin!"

"I…" Dante cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the tightness in it. "I thought he was…that is-"

The hat cried, "SLYTHERIN!"

Dante grimaced, watching his brother make way towards the table at the other end of the Hall. He'd have to wait even more to talk to him. He tried to catch Vergil's eye, but the boy didn't look in his direction even once.

Distantly, he heard another name called, "Weasley, Ronald."

"GRIFFINDOR!"

The redheads all jumped to their feet, including Percy. Dante looked up at that and saw a redhead make his way over. They had to be brothers, he thought.

The boy took the seat between him and Percy. Dante moved over to make room and turned his attention back to his twin, who was sitting rigidly in the Slytherin table.

"That's very uncommon." he heard Nick say quietly. "Brothers are usually in the same House, but twins to be sorted into different Houses…"

"What twins?" he heard Ron ask.

"Tony, and his twin." Percy answered. "Vergil Sparda. He's been sorted into Slytherin."

Ron gasped. "What?! Tony, you sure he's your twin? Maybe he's a look-alike…"

Dante glared at him. Ron hastily looked away. "Unless he's a name-alike, yes, I'm sure."

"But he's got different last name!"

"So?"

"Ron." Harry Potter warned. "I don't think he's in the mood."

"Yeah, but come on Harry, how many twins do you see getting sorted into different Houses?"

"My sister went to Ravenclaw." said an Indian girl.

"Yeah, Ravenclaw, not Slytherin!"

Dante whipped his head around. "What's wrong with Slytherin?"

It was Ron's turn to glare. "Oh, now you're interested?"

"Shh!" said Percy. "Professor Dumbledore is going to say something."

Dumbledore had his arms spread wide, like he was going to engulf all the students in a bear hug.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you."

"Is he…a bit mad?" Harry asked.

"Hell yeah." said Dante, staring. "What kind of a professor calls his students Nitwit on the first day of school?"

"He's the finest wizard of modern time!" said Percy. "But yes, he is a bit mad. And Tony, Professor Snape will most definitely call you all a 'dunderhead' on the first class. I wouldn't call him the example of good professor…Dumbledore's nothing like him, though. Potatoes, Harry?"

Dante turned to find the empty dishes now filled with food.

Incredibly, he wasn't hungry. He scooped up a few spoonfuls of potatoes, fries, roasted chicken and Yorkshire pudding onto his plate. He pushed them around for a moment, before pausing with a fry halfway to his mouth.

There was Vergil, sitting beside another silver haired boy, who looked eager to converse. Vergil wasn't talking much, finishing his food quietly. Dante swallowed, Vergil used to be just as enthusiastic about food as he did. Now he was obviously eating just to keep his stomach satisfied.

He didn't know where Vergil had been all this time; he left the night Eva had died, saying he'd avenge her, and never came back. Dante had assumed he was dead. Maybe luck hadn't been as kind to him as it had been to Dante. Maybe he didn't get to stay in an orphanage, lived on the street or something. Whatever had happened, Vergil had changed. Not for the better. Even from this distance, he could all but feel the coldness radiating off of him.

Then he looked up suddenly, and their eyes met. Dante felt his widen. Vergil's eyes were cold, like ice. They turned piercing when locked into Dante's, and it was like staring down two silver swords.

"Alright there, Tony?" It was Percy.

Dante tore his eyes away, reluctantly breaking the staring contest. He dropped his chicken fry back on the table. "Yeah, not hungry." He mumbled.

"Yeah, he's eaten a lot in the train…no offense, Tony." Neville added the last part hurriedly.

Dante waved his hand. "Pride myself on it." he said. "Oh, by the way, Percy, which one's Snape?"

"There." The prefect pointed. A hook-nosed, greasy haired man was talking with a nervous looking young man with a huge turban.

"Looks pretty nosy if you ask me." Dante observed. Percy chuckled.

"Don't let him hear you say that." he paused before adding, "Good observation, though."

"Who's the nervous chap?" Dante asked, pointing to the one talking to Snape.

"Oh, that's Professor Quirrell. He's the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher."

"What was wrong with the old one?"

"Nothing much. Quirrell's going to leave this year too, no one can stay in this job for more than a year."

"Why?"

"No one knows. But that's what's been happening since my parents were here."

Dante watched the foods disappear and deserts take its place. He spared it only a glance, even when he saw the ice creams, before turning his gaze back to the Slytherin table. Vergil was impatiently tapping his fingers on the table.

At long last, the deserts were gone, and Dumbledore stood up

"Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. Dante tried to catch Vergil's eye. This place was definitely going on the top of his 'places to visit' list.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.

"He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.

"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere — the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

"What's a prefect?" Dante whispered.

Percy stared as if it was a crime not to know.

"I was raised in the muggle world." Dante said hastily, not wanting to draw attention.

"Prefects have the honorable duty to ensure that the peace of their House is not being-"

"Ahem, Percy-" One of the twins said.

"I don't think he wanted to hear the oaths of the prefects."

Percy shot them a look. "Cut it out, Fred, George."

"Yes, Percy the Perfect Prefect." They chorused.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore, making words appear out of his wand and hover in the air.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

Dante didn't pick much of a tune, he began saying the lyrics in the rock song style, drawing a few strange glances.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare-"

He stopped right there. _Bare and full of air? __No way in _hell_ I'm singing that._

He waited for it to finish, and finally Dumbledore said, "Now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Dante jumped up, broke ranks and all but ran to his brother. Vergil had stopped on the other side as well, taking in his twin. Then he turned and made to walk away.

_What did I do, now? _

He broke into a run to catch up. "Verge?" he called softly once he had reached him. "I thought you were-"

"Not now." Vergil said sharply. Dante faltered a bit, taking in his twin's expression. There was something very unwelcoming in the blue depths of his eyes.

But the warning vanished from Dante's mind as soon as Vergil had begun to leave. He grasped his brother's arm, turning him around. Vergil gave him a withering glare, making Dante take a step back, releasing the arm immediately.

"What the hell's your problem?" he asked, bewildered.

"_You are, Dante._" Vergil hissed through clenched teeth, and this time he _did _walk away.

Dante stood in stunned silence for a moment. Finally, he turned to follow the other Gryffindors. As he did, his eyes caught Dumbledore's from across the Hall. The old wizard's eyes were sad.

Dante swallowed again; then hurried to catch up with the rest of the Gryffindors, falling into step beside Hermione.

"What happened?" she asked.

Dante shrugged. "What?" he asked. "We met. But their prefects were calling, so…"

"You thought he was dead, didn't you? I saw how you looked at him when he was called to the hat. You must have had a hundred things to talk about! But the two of you just…turned and walked away!"

Sighing, he said, "Look, I'm tired. Can't we just….postpone this or something?"

Hermione eyed him, chewing on her lower lip. "Okay."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The Gryffindor common room was a comfy setting, Dante thought. Decorated in red with plush armchairs, this looked like a great place to sleep in.

But Percy had other plans. He guided the first year boys to the left side, where they had to go up a spiral staircase to get to the dormitory. It, too, had plenty of red.

Dante sat on the bed and looked around. His bed was one of the middles one among the six four-posters. He would be sharing the room with Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. To his left was Ron, trying to get his rat off his pillow. To his right was Neville, already snoring softly, clutching his toad to his chest. His hold was slackening, though, and Dante had a feeling the round-faced boy's panicked cries would serve as his alarm clock the next morning. Seamus and Dean were changing behind their posters.

"Great food, huh?" he heard Ron mutter. "Too bad you missed it, Tony."

"Yeah." Dante suddenly felt a surge of anger. Why would he worry over his brother when that prick didn't give a damn about him?

"Regretting it already." He answered Ron. "Wasn't worth it."

And forcefully shoving Vergil to the back of his mind, he kicked off his boots and went to sleep, not bothering to change.

**And that's that until next update! I hope I caught a few people by surprise when Vergil turned up…at least, I know I caught one! *winks***

**Please review! Following and favoriting are amazing and everything, but I'd also love to hear your thoughts!**


	3. First impressions

**So, this is now, according to stats, my best story so far. Thanks to Rose's Fox, tunfisch300, Kaeda-Saiyuri, minatoarisato141, I have a bitch of an itch(that's a funny name), DarkKitsuneFluffy for favoriting and again Rose's Fox, tunfisch3000, Kaeda-Saiyuri, dragonninja20, minatoarisato.141, mendezgonzalezfrank, I have a bitch of an itch, No-Story, ChaosSpartan999, Safer Alexander, DarkKitsuneFluffy, deathbykitsune and sonicgirl10219 for following!**

**milkeyweir5: Your name kind of got deleted from the published version of last chapter. I now see that having dots inside the penname is the problem…I don't know why, though. Anyway, thanks for favoriting!**

**I've got plans to update every Wednesday, but depending on varying aspects, it could be earlier or later. I have to admit; a contributor could be the reviews I get, because they really, really boost my confidence and helps me keep my spirits up!**

**Where we left off:**

_Dante sat on the bed and looked around. His bed was one of the middles one among the six four-posters. He would be sharing the room with Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. To his left was Ron, trying to get his rat off his pillow. To his right was Neville, already snoring softly, clutching his toad to his chest. His hold was slackening, though, and Dante had a feeling the round-faced boy's panicked cries would serve as his alarm clock the next morning. Seamus and Dean were changing behind their posters._

"_Great food, huh?" he heard Ron mutter. "Too bad you missed it, Tony."_

"_Yeah." Dante suddenly felt a surge of anger. Why would he worry over his brother when that prick didn't give a damn about him?_

"_Regretting it already." He answered Ron. "Wasn't worth it."_

_And forcefully shoving Vergil to the back of his mind, he kicked off his boots and went to sleep, not bothering to change._

**And here we go!**

Chapter 2

Dante woke up to panicked cries.

"Cut it out, Neville." He groaned, passing a hand over his eyes.

"I'm not Neville!" snapped the voice. Female voice.

"'Mione?" Dante lowered his hand. "What're you doing here?"

"Get up! The first class is in three hours! You haven't read a thing!"

"Hagrid's probably forgotten the letter that gave us homework _before_ class." He retorted, burying his head under the pillow and pulling his blanket close.

Both were gone a second later.

"Mione!" Dante spread out his arm and rested his head on it. "Can't a guy get some peace here? This is the boy's dormitory!"

Hermione's voice could now be heard on the other end. "Neville, up, come on. It's six o'clock already!" her voice was loads softer, Dante noted. "Oh, where's your toad?"

A creaking sound made him realize Neville was up from his bed. "Trevor? Oh no, Trevor!"

Dante stood from his bed, grabbing his blanket and pillow and sending an envious look towards the loudly snoring Ron. Then he crept out of the room, and made a beeline for the girls' dormitory. Hermione's bed was surely vacant.

He took the first step on the stair….

And fell, blankets and all.

He could hear screams from upstairs. _Incredible…they're already up? Or maybe Hermione made them get up too…_

He set his eyes on the couch, stumbled over to the one beside the fireplace and curled up, pulling the blanket over him. His head was resting on something especially comfortable and slimy…

_Slimy?!_

He grasped the toad, dropped it to the ground and let his eyes fall closed. He was asleep in a second, red blanket blending in with the red couch and acting as camouflage.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Tony! Oh, where'd he go?"

Hermione ran down the stairs, looking around frantically. Neville was doing the same thing, but not for Tony.

"Trevor!" he ran to the little frog and cradled it. "There you are!"

Hermione sighed loudly. "Maybe he's down to the Great Hall already." She left, Neville in tow.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante was woken by loud commotion.

"Merlin!" someone screamed. "What in the name of-?"

Dante pulled his blanket down from his head. It was Percy.

"You're up?" he asked blearily.

"Tony? What are you doing here? I almost sat on you!" said the prefect.

"Almost?" said a twin.

"More like, 'bounced off you'." said the other one.

"Told you that looked a bit larger-"

"But of course, you're the prefect-"

"What are you two called again?"

Percy answered Dante. "Fred and George. I'm sorry, Tony, I-"

"Okay, Fred, um….Hermione nearby?"

"No…I think."

"Okay. Then I'll just catch a bit more sle-"

"But it's breakfast time already, Tony!" said Fred(or George).

"It is?" Dante pushed off his blanket.

"Yeah, it actually started five minutes ago-"

"Wait, I think ten-"

"Fifteen-"

"Twenty-"

Dante had heard enough. He ran upstairs to get dressed.

Fred and George shared a smirk before sitting on the sofa just vacated. "Best sofa in the whole common room." said Fred.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante arrived at the table to find most of the students already there. He scowled, deeply, because it was obvious he hadn't been late at all.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked as he took his seat next to her. "Couldn't find you anywhere."

"That was the idea." Dante retorted, buttering his toast. "What've we got today?"

"Classes? First Herbology, then Charms."

Dante nodded, before focusing on his food. To be frank, he was looking forward to class.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Professor Sprout seemed a happy little witch. She took the roll call and smiled at Harry when his was called. Dante frowned again, unable to grasp why everyone was so excited about a boy who had obviously just set foot in the school.

Once the roll call was done, she moved on to their lessons. Nothing really big, separating two kinds of herbs and placing them in the specific baskets. She said it would be needed for the infirmary, and Dante couldn't help wondering if magic healed humans faster than his own natural healing rate.

Charms was somewhat more interesting. A tiny wizard standing on books to see over his desk turned out to be the teacher, named Professor Flitwick. As he called Harry's name, he squealed and toppled over.

Dante rolled his eyes. "Very _charming_."

Harry, sitting with him, looked downright worried though, relaxing only when Flitwick stood with the help of Hermione.

"Thank you, Miss Granger." said the tiny wizard. "Now where was I? Oh yes, roll call! And it's a pleasure to have you in class, Harry Potter! Now….yes…" and he began taking attendance again.

"Cause an explosion," Dante suggested to Harry, who had taken the seat next to him. The poor boy looked really overwhelmed by the reactions his name was causing everywhere. "I bet he won't be pleased then."

Harry laughed a bit nervously. "I wish I knew how to do even that!"

The first task looked really easy. Everyone was given a glass of water, and their task was to make the liquid move with their wand, without actually touching it. But soon, Dante realized it was actually pretty hard.

"I thought wizards were supposed to chant little rhymes?" he muttered to himself, but Harry heard.

"You're from the muggle world then? Good to know I'm not the only one."

"Hermione's a muggleborn."

"But she knows more than Ron." Harry reminded him. "She knows it all by heart."

Dante turned to see Hermione making the water slosh around. He nodded slowly.

And that was all he remembered.

"Tony! Tony, get up!"

"Hm?"

"Don't sleep in the classroom!" Hermione chided him. "The professor is leaving!"

"Oh." Dante rubbed at his eyes, stood with his bag slung over a shoulder, and began walking out.

From behind him, he could still hear Neville muttering the spell under his breath. Dante sighed, this boy was really trying to prove himself, but he didn't see the point-

A loud sound caused him to look down. His bag was torn off, and everything had fallen to the ground. Over it all was his mother's photo.

Dante knelt down quickly, letting out the breath he didn't know he had been holding when he checked the frame over and found it intact.

"Tony, I'm so-sorry…" Neville whispered.

"Wouldn't forgive it if this was broken." Dante began to pull up his books, tucking them under one arm. He held Eva's photo on the other one. He had brought it on a whim. He really needed his mother to be with him for some reason, maybe he was a bit nervous…

The photo was suddenly snatched out of his hands. Dante jumped up, eyes fierce as he saw Vergil holding the frame.

"Give that back." he hissed.

"You're not worthy of that." Vergil retorted. "Not when it's because of you that she's dead."

"Can you guys…excuse us for a moment?" Dante whispered to Neville, but his voice came out like a low growl. "We're having a brotherly discussion, and things are going to get personal."

Neville left. Hermione adopted a stern expression.

"No spells in the corridor between classes." She said. "Professor Dumbledore specifically said-"

"I said _go_." Dante said, giving her his best glare. Hermione's eyes widened a bit.

"Okay." She said, turning. "But no spells." She did her best to march off, but Dante could see her legs shaking.

Dante waited until her bushy hair had disappeared from view before turning back to his twin. "So that's what this is all about? You're angry because of that day, when I hid while you fought?"(1)

"And I was close to finishing them off!" Vergil hissed back. "If you had come out of your little hole and helped me, Mum would be alive today!"

"You don't know that!" Dante said, but his resolve was waning.

"I do know that your cowardice cost mum her life, and that you-" Vergil pointed a finger in his direction, "refuse to take responsibility for that."

"You think I don't regret it?" he swallowed to keep his voice from cracking, "You think I don't think everyday about what would've happened if I hadn't listened to mom when she told me to hide?"

"Reflection won't do any good." Vergil said, his voice icy. "It's not going to change the past."

Dante clenched his fists in anger. "I…"

"Well, well, well." said a silky voice. "What do we have here?"

Dante turned to see Professor Snape standing in the doorway. Any other time, and he would've thought of a hundred insults concerning his hair alone, but none of it crossed his mind now.

"That's none of your-" Vergil started.

Snape ignored him in favor of Dante. "So, Mr. Redgrave, insulting a fellow student? Thought you would make up an image to your housemates by fighting Slytherins? That's a point you've lost for Gryffindor. Move along, Mr. Sparda."

Vergil didn't move just yet, still glaring at his brother as Snape stalked away.

Which turned out to be a wise move, because Snape hadn't gone five feet when Dante lunged at his brother, trying to get the photo out of his grasp. Vergil blocked his hand with his forearm, bringing his other hand down and just missing his brother's left shoulder-

And then they were both flying back, their heads crashing against the walls with small, identical thuds.

"Five points from Gryffindor."

Snape had swiveled around and had sent a spell, knocking the two into opposite walls. "I believe the Headmaster has not been clear about wrestling on corridors, but I can assure you it's against the school rules. Now move, otherwise both of you will get detentions!"

Dante took a few steps away from his brother, still fuming. "He's got my photo!"

"And of course, this-" Snape flicked his wand, and the photo flew over from Vergil's grasp, "is going to my office. Maybe when your," he looked at Vergil, "behavior is worthy of my approval, you will get your prized possession back." He strode off, robes billowing behind him.

Dante and Vergil shared a glance. First and last mission together: Getting the photo back from the office.

The plan was laid down the very day, after lunch.

"To be executed Friday." They said in unison, sharing a smirk. Nothing had changed, they were still rivals and Vergil still hated Dante, but on this one thing, they were partners.

The two were awake long after night had fallen, staring up at the ceiling and listening to their respective roommates snoring.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The next day, when they were passing Slytherins on the way to Transfiguration, Dante walked forward to fall in step just behind Hermione. He tapped her on the shoulder. She turned with a frown.

"What?"

"There's something I need you to keep, just until I can take it back."

Her gaze turned suspicious. "Whatever you are up to, I'm sure it breaks rules. If you are caught-"

"I know! Look, this is serious. Just for a week, okay? I promise the thing's not anything harmful, or even unlawful."

"Then why would you need me to keep it?"

"Because that's the-" he sighed. He seemed to do that too much around this girl, he noted. "Just do this one thing, please?" he had to grit his teeth at the last word. Hermione shrugged, still eyeing him suspiciously.

"Okay." she said finally.

Dante breathed out, almost sagging in relief as he caught Vergil's eye from across the line and gave him a nod. Vergil nodded back as they walked past.

Dante had just taken his seat when the door opened, and the stern Professor McGongall walked into the room.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Cool!" Dante shouted, enthusiastic, as the Professor changed her desk into a pig and vice versa. His voice was drowned out by other students cheering.

"Thank you." The Professor said, moving around to stand in front of her desk. "Now, I want you to listen to what I say very carefully. Everyone, parchments and quills out."

There was shuffling all around. Dante rolled his eyes, and pulled out a pen. "Better than quills any day of the week." he muttered. The pen was a ballpoint, so hopefully it wouldn't be a problem…

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"What is this, Mr. Redgrave?"

Professor McGonagall had stopped beside Dante's bench to check the matchstick he was given to transform into a needle. It had a gentle, silver shimmer now, which was more than he could say for anyone except Hermione.

But it seemed it would escape the professor's attention, because the professor had seen his notes and was now eyeing him coldly, a finger tapping against the parchment.

Dante squinted at the point on which her finger rested. "Looks like an 'A'…"

The students snickered. McGongall stopped them with a single look.

"I admire your accurate knowledge of the alphabets, but I was referring to the ink, Mr. Redgrave."

Dante nodded. "I see it." he said, voice serious.

"_Did you use a quill?_"

"I did!" Dante said defensively. "On Ron when he refused to get up. His ear's pretty ticklish if you ask me-"

Full out laughter. McGongall drew herself to her full height, eyes blazing.

"Five points from Gryffindor."

Dante muttered, "Uh-oh."

"I expect you'll know when not to push your limits from now, Mr. Redgrave. It'll be ten points the next time you do what you just did."

"Not using a quill?"

"And disrespecting your professors. Is that clear?"

Dante nodded obediently. _Brilliant introduction, Dante, _he scolded himself.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"There will be no wand-waving or silly incantations in this class." Severus Snape drawled as he strode into the room, black cloak billowing behind him.

_I swear, he's gonna get tripped in them one of these days…._

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here," Snape began lecturing in a silky voice, "-many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. . . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Dante bit his lip. If that guy didn't stop his rambling, he'd have to make him, and he didn't look forward to that after what had happened with McGongall. On another note, he probably owed Percy a thank you for the heads up about the speech about dunderheads.

He did roll his eyes at Hermione, though, who was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione's hand shot up. Vergil gave her a cool look. Dante looked between the two. Obviously his brother was disgusted about the showing off. He had to fight a smile at that thought; everyone who knew him and his brother would know how big a show-off they both were.

"I don't know, sir." Harry said quietly.

Snape didn't stop though, and asked him two more questions, of which Harry didn't know the answer. When he was done shaming Harry, he snapped at Hermione to sit down and gave the first potions task.

Dante, sitting just behind Crabbe and one seat away from Malfoy, pulled a glass vial filled with a black mixture…he didn't know what it actually was, but Vergil seemed to think it would work- out of his pocket and uncorked the vial. He pulled the hand back, and threw the delicate glass bottle with precise angle. It bounced off Crabbe's head and fell on the inside of Malfoy's cauldron, and exploded, poisonous liquid flowing everywhere.

Chaos ensured. Dante saw Vergil sneak out the door.

Snape was quickly trying to calm the situation, but it wasn't much help. Dante breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Vergil come back with something tucked under his robes.

Snape was saying threatening words about what he was going to do when he caught the mischief maker, but Dante couldn't bring himself to care.

Class finished, and Vergil handed him the photo with a cold, "Only for a week."

"Then we'll fight it out." Dante finished. He quickly went over to Hermione, giving her the photo.

She gasped at seeing it. "She's beautiful. Your mother?"

"Yeah." Dante said. "Believe me now? It's not gonna burn you. Just keep it in your dormitory. Until further notice." He walked off without another word, even when he heard Hermione cry, "Tony! Was that you who caused the-"

"Yeah, yeah, just don't spread it around!" he called over his shoulder, smiling knowingly. Hermione hated those who broke laws, but he was her only friend and he knew she wouldn't tell on him.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

His second potions class was even more eventful.

"So, Mr. Longbottom, what was this mixture supposed to be at this stage of brewing?" Snape asked silkily, his eyes taking in the liquid inside the cauldron.

Neville bit his lip. "G-green, sir."

"And what is it now?"

He mumbled something.

"Louder, Mr. Longbottom."

"Yellow, sir."

"Your incompetence hasn't gone unnoticed by me the previous class, Longbottom. If you think that you're so good you can excel in your studies without opening your book once, then I'd say that you-"

"Says the Potions Master who thinks he knows everything, but can't make a simple mixture for his own hair." Dante scoffed.

Dead silence all around.

"What was that, Mr. Redgrave?"

Dante cocked his head. "Need one for your hearing, too? Don't worry, sir, I can get Madam Pomfrey to use a spell to cure it."

Muffled chuckling. Dante realized it was coming from most of the Gryffindors, though Neville was ashen faced.

Snape turned his head around with a billowed "Silence!" the room stilled.

"Detention, Mr. Redgrave." He said as he turned to Dante, voice shaking with rage. "Let's make it certain: I don't care what lineage you're from, if I hear one more word coming out of your mouth intended to insult me, you will pay dearly, believe me."

Dante suppressed the urge to shrug. That would only make it worse.

"Can I trust you to keep quiet now? Or maybe a trip to the Headmaster's office is in order?"

_What a tattletale…_

"Please," Dante said, "I got a thing or two to say to him myself. For starters, I'd love to watch you try to explain bullying students in your class."

He regretted the words the moment it was out. But it was out, so no taking it back. He heard horrified gasps, but kept his eyes focused on his professor. _Better to watch out for incoming attacks…_

Professor Snape was white as chalk.

"20 points from Gryffindor." He turned back to his desk, even as gasps from Gryffindors filled the room. "Now, as I was saying…"

Dante watched the proceedings absently, even as he tried to ignore the looks of shining admiration from many of the Gryffindor students and pure contempt from the Slytherins.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"You shouldn't have done that." Neville exclaimed the moment they were out.

"Wicked!" cried Ron at the same time. "You're bloody brilliant, mate!"

Dante waved away Neville's words. "You think I did it for you? That snake was really getting on my nerves." To Ron, he gave a mock bow.

"You insulted a professor, Tony!" Hermione said. "You shouldn't be disrespectful to your teachers!"

Dante frowned at her. "Don't tell me you think he didn't have that coming."

She fell silent with a frown. Dante grinned. "Got my answer!" he said cheerfully. "Now if you'll excuse me….I gotta go see what task Snape's gonna stick me with."

Neville chewed on his lower lip. "Good luck."

Dante's smirk faltered when he saw the worry on the four students' faces. "He…um…he doesn't actually hurt students?" he asked worriedly.

"No, no!" Ron said hastily. "Not that I know."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

As it turned out, Professor Snape could be a lot more evil than Dante had ever dreamed.

Physical pain he could handle, but that wasn't what he had to endure. No, it was getting stuck being an assistant of Filch for fourteen nights straight.

"Getting stuck with a sword would be less painful…." He grumbled, only to trail off as he saw Hermione's horrified expression, "Eh, don't take that at face value." He added hurriedly.

She stalked on ahead, her bushy hair hiding her face from view. Dante couldn't for the life of him figure out how she was walking this fast with books all over her arms. He quickened his own pace to catch up with her.

"Hey, I was kinda hoping you'd help me with something."

She turned to him. "What?"

"Harry Potter's story."

She sized him up. "Go to the library." she said. "Reading will do you some good. Oh," her eyes suddenly widened, "What was Professor Snape saying about your lineage?"

Dante slowed to a stop. He hoped Snape had meant Dumbledore, but he couldn't be sure that it hadn't been about Sparda. Besides, he knew being a relative of a professor could change the way the students viewed their peer, so he didn't want them to know about his great uncle just yet.

"Forget what I said." he hurried off, pretending he didn't want to be late for his flying lesson.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante looked down at the broomstick. _Witches flying on brooms, huh, where have I heard this before?_

The smile creeping across his face was wiped right off as he heard their strict teacher's voice. Madam Hooch. Dante had long since given up on hearing a simple name for these wizards and witches; there were so many odd names that they just didn't surprise him anymore.

"What are you waiting for? Everyone stand by your broomstick. Come on, hurry up. Stick your right hand over your broom and say 'Up'!"

_Picking it up would be so much simpler…._but Dante did as instructed, placing his hand over the broom and saying 'Up.'

The broom jumped up. He caught it deftly, smirking again. No fighting instrument had ever failed him….and he had learnt from his mother that brooms could be a handy weapon that'd cause even Dark Knights to run in terror. He glanced around. Vergil had managed on the first try, and so had Harry. Oddly, Hermione had yet to pick hers up.

Malfoy got it on the second try. Ron got it on the fifth, as it smacked him right on the face. Snickering, Dante turned to see Neville's broom already in hand, along with pretty much everyone.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips.

"Look at that. Doesn't have a clue how to hold a broom."

Dante looked forward at Malfoy, who was smirking at him. "Sorry?"

"This is how it's done, watch and learn!" Malfoy answered him, showing his own grip.

Dante snorted. "That's wrong."

"How would you know?" Malfoy challenged.

Dante shrugged. _Because my instincts on these sorts of things are never wrong. _"Because I do."

"What's this?" Madam Hooch had come forward.

"Just adjusting, ma'am." Dante answered with a slight twitch of his lips.

"I'm showing him the correct way to do this, Madam Hooch!" Malfoy chirped.

Madam Hooch glanced down at Dante's hand on the broom, and her brows rose in surprise.

"You've flown before, I assume?"

"No. Is my grip wrong?" Dante asked, allowing a hint of smugness to creep into his voice.

She shook her head, apparently choosing to let his tone slide. "No, it's perfect. One would think you were doing it for years."

"What?" Malfoy protested. "But _I've_ been doing this for years!"

"You were doing this _wrong_ for years." she snarled. "Don't try to tell me how to hold a broom, young man!"

She moved down the line, and Dante raised an eyebrow at Draco Malfoy. "Don't try that with me, Draco. You'll lose every time, and your professors would get bad impressions, and what would your father think of _that?_"

Malfoy lunged at him, and he was about to move away, but then, seeing the boy was about to slam onto his broom, he quickly caught him by the arms and set him back on his feet.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!" Madam Hooch yelled.

"Malfoy attacked Tony, Madam Hooch!" Harry said immediately.

"He was provoked!" Pansy Parkinson shouted hotly.

"He stumbled." Dante cut in. "Can't you see I caught him?"

The Gryffindors looked sharply at him, and he ignored it.

Madam Hooch scowled and moved to the front. "Very well, but if I hear one more-"

Dante and Malfoy both shook their heads quickly, and she trailed off. Dante whispered to Malfoy, "That won't be done all the time, Draco. Tread carefully."

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly."

Dante readied himself on his broom, feeling somewhat stupid. _Oh, if my roommate could see me now…_

"On my whistle — three — two —"

But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed his broom off before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips. (2)

"Mr. Longbottom." Madam Hooch said sternly as the round-faced boy began to whimper. "Mr. Long…." Her voice turned shrill, "Mr. Longbottom!"

Neville was at least 15 feet in the air, hanging onto his broom for dear life as it spiraled out of control, going straight up.

Dante ran off ahead, hoping to catch Neville, keeping just below the boy, until Neville suddenly came down and rocketed at them.

Dante timed his jump. He had to catch the broom…only one shot at this….He dove forward. Neville's broom's speed suddenly increased…..Dante missed. He put both hands forward to catch his fall, jumping back up on his feet to find the boy teetering on his broom. He ran forward again.

Neville was already beginning to slide off his broom; he was going to fall any second.

_Can't afford to miss this time…_

He was almost six feet away when the boy began plummeting towards the ground from over thirty feet.

"Shit!" Dante cursed aloud as he dove again, Neville trying to grasp at the air, flailing in panic, and falling straight into his classmate's outstretched arms.

Dante grimaced, balancing himself by throwing his weight forward, and then turned on the balls of his feet. "Jeez, you really should get a diet chart, Neville." He said, as the boy peered up at him, his eyes wide. "Okay, that about translates to…._get off me_!" he added, setting the boy on his feet and rubbing at his arms. That was when he realized the whole class was staring at him.

"What?" he asked, looking down to see if some of the ground dirt had robbed off on his clothes. It had; he could see the gray glaring up at him from the black sleeves.

"Ah, that. If that really bothers you, I can change it out. Got spares in my pack…."

Neville had turned an interesting shade of crimson beside him. Dante threw up his hands.

"What the hell's the prob-"

"15 points to Gryffindor." Madam Hooch said, finally finding her voice, at the same time the Gryffindors erupted into cheers. Dante stared at them for a moment, before allowing a confident smile to grace his face as he bowed. "Thank you, thank you, you've been a lovely audience." Then he groaned. _Now the professor's gonna take points off me for that…._

"But no display of arrogance in my class from now on. You understand?"

Dante sighed in relief. "Yes, ma'am." He said meekly, as his gaze fell on the boys who were staring at him stonily. Namely, about the entire population of the Slytherin house, including his brother.

"Show me your arms." Hooch ordered.

Dante rolled up his sleeves. "It's fine." He protested nonetheless as she grabbed his arms to check for bruises. Fortunately, there weren't any, otherwise it probably would've disappeared in front of her eyes and he'd be left with a hundred things to explain.

"Remarkable." Madam Hooch murmured. "You're very, very lucky, Mr. Redgrave. You could've done serious damage to your arms."

Scanning Neville turned up quite a bit of bruises and cuts. Dante moved away, grateful to be out of the spotlight. The hateful stares from the Slytherins were already growing on his nerves.

"Everyone keep their feet firmly on the ground when I take Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing." Madam Hooch spoke up. "Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, you'll be out faster than you can say 'Quidditch'."

"Quidditch." Dante muttered to himself. _Just a figure of speech, surely…_

"Give that here, Malfoy."

Dante turned to see Harry faced off against Draco Malfoy, the latter of which had a glass ball in his hand.

Malfoy smirked at Harry. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." He took off with his broom. "How about-up a tree?" he asked as he reached some 50 meters above ground. "Come and get it, Potter!"

Harry glared at him, before readying his own broom.

"No!" Hermione screamed, making her way through. "Madam Hooch told us not to move- you'll get us all into trouble!"

Harry didn't even give her a glance before kicking off.

"What an idiot." she muttered.

Harry went up, and a short battle of words ensured that ended with Malfoy saying, "Catch it if you can, then!" and throwing the ball in the air. Dante almost mounted his broom, but changed his mind as Harry shot off towards it. The boy needed his own show, if only to justify the widespread whispers his name started everywhere.

Dante smiled as Harry caught it a moment before it was going to hit the ground. The brunette smiled triumphantly, staring at the glass ball, and touched the ground, where the Gryffindors were already running forward to greet him.

Dante watched with a slight smirk, but he had to admit to himself that he had felt a surge of admiration. What Harry did took guts, especially considering that he was not a half-demon whose injuries healed in minutes.

"Harry Potter!"

_Uh-Oh._

It was Professor McGongall.

"Follow me." She said, striding off. Harry followed glumly.

Dante watched Hermione put her hands on her hips and stare after them. He suppressed another small smile. The girl was overly lawful, but he didn't have to look too hard to know that Hermione was more afraid on behalf of Harry at this moment than actually irritated about him.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

After the class was dismissed, Dante heard the news. Harry was getting to play for the Gryffindor house team. He heard it from the Hufflepuff ghost, who was chatting with the Gryffindor house ghost.

_So?_ he thought. _What's the big deal? There's always seven players….and…_

"Hey, Tony!"

He turned just in time to get a glimpse of Fred and George's face before they shoved him in an empty classroom. "Got you a gift." Fred said, handing a small box out to him.

"Yeah, one almost too valuable to give up-"

"-then we thought we can live with one sacrifice-"

"You put Snape in his place, after all." They both saluted gravely after the last statement.

Dante opened the box, frowning at the sweets neatly arranged. He sniffed it, then handed one out from the bottom with a generous smile. "After you, good sirs."

George adopted a hurt expression. "You don't trust us?"

"Why, of course I…..don't." Dante said, his expression going from joyful to a scowl. "I know you tricked me with that breakfast thing, and I want you to verify this for me." He shoved the sweet under George's chin. "C'mon!"

"If you insist." George put it in his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and then wiped at his lips. "Mmm….delicious."

"Hey! I want one too!" Fred called after him, even as Dante sped off with a 'thanks'! Then the twins shared a chuckle.

"Could make a good addition." said Fred, still smiling.

**1: Will be explained in Chapter 6.**

**2: For the purpose of dramatic flair, I had to change the scene a bit from the book, so I threw in the movie scene instead.**

**Reply to unsigned review:**

Qwertyuiop: Thanks so much! Your kind words really encourage me, though feel free to point out all flaws!

**Next up: Dumbledore explains everything and the hybrid twins have their face-off.**

**Please don't forget to review!**


	4. Questions, answers and more questions

**Thanks to fenix102, Murakami no Kitsune, Rieh104, DanteSpardafinatics42 and lord harry peverell for favoriting and again DanteSpardafinatics42, Rieh104, Murakami no Kitsune, ShinobiTwin05, Chibi y Hina, Skeiron and fenix102 for following! I especially loved the amount of reviews I got from last update. Criticisms are very welcome, really, I adore them. Flames are not.**

**Where we left off:**

"If you insist." George put the sweet in his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and then wiped at his lips. "Mmm….delicious."

"Hey! I want one too!" Fred called after him, even as Dante sped off with a 'thanks'! Then the twins shared a chuckle.

"Could make a good addition." said Fred, still smiling.

**And here we go!**

Chapter 3

Dante was getting ready to go to his first detention ever. Preparation included closing his eyes and taking long, calming breaths. Filch was a nightmare, everyone knew that. And Dante knew if he tried to smartmouth, Snape would just throw in another detention. He had to be civilized, to Filch.

That had to be the worst part.

The door to the dormitory opened with a click. Neville stepped in, his face white.

"Professor Snape's here to see you." he stammered.

Dante shrugged. "Tell him to come up."

A half minute later, Neville came back with Professor Snape, the latter's gaze wandering about the walls as if he expected something to jump out.

Dante snapped his fingers. "I'm over here, sir!"

"I see you, Mr. Redgrave." Snape ground out, "Mr. Longbottom, do excuse us for a moment."

The boy scurried off.

"These are all your belongings?" Snape questioned.

The question took Dante aback. He had hidden Rebellion and his guns away under his mattress, but how would Snape know that?

"Yeah."

"Really?" Snape strode up to him, bringing his face down until he was nearly nose to nose with Dante. "Don't play games with me, Redgrave." He whispered. "Where is the photo?"

Dante hid a smirk, and crossed his arms. "You lost it?" he accused.

"You know the answer to that, Mr. Redgrave. Now are you going to keep resisting, or will you be sensible for once and save yourself some humiliation?"

"I don't have it." Dante said coldly. "Search for it if you want."

Snape pointed his wand. "Accio Tony's things!"

Cloths and books flew towards him, falling at his feet. No photo.

"Right. I forgot." Snape smirked, flicking his wand again.

"Accio Dante's things!"

Dante froze. "No!" he cried sharply as he dove forward blindly, for the second time that day.

His hands grasped at the blade of Rebellion, and he clung onto it with as much force as he could muster. The sword was still threatening to slip from his grasp, blood trailing down his wrists as it tried to go full force at Snape, who had jumped back in shock.

"Cancel the damn thing!" Dante hissed through clenched teeth, both from effort and pain. Snape snapped out of it, flicked his wrist, and the sword went limp in Dante's hands. The half-demon lowered it down to the ground and immediately clenched his hands into fists, placing them behind his back in an effort to hide them from Snape's prying gaze.

"Show me your palms." Snape's words were a bit less cold than usual, but Dante assumed it was due to the shock.

He took a step back, and nearly slipped on the drops of blood at his feet. "No way." he said, all too aware of how childish he sounded. "And you can't make me."

"We're going to the hospital wing, then." Snape said, turning. Dante felt his eyes widen.

"No, wait! You can heal this type of wounds, right? Then let's do it here!"

Snape smirked triumphantly as he took the boy's hands in his own. The smirk disappeared a second later.

"What….?" Only a shallow cut was visible. "There's no way this much blood can come out of…." he stopped again. Dante peered in, hoping it wasn't what he had thought, but that wasn't to be.

The cuts were healing…even then. Dante tried to snatch his hands back, but Snape held fast, watching with astonishment.

A minute later, not even a faded scar could be seen. Dante kept his gaze on the floor, suddenly realizing the gravity of the situation he had found himself in.

"Mr. Redgrave…." Snape said softly, too surprised to even let his usual contempt show, "We're going to the Headmaster."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Snape was quiet as he led Dante through a series of hallways and moving staircases. Usually Dante enjoyed leaping through the moving staircases when no one was watching, but tonight he found no joy in it.

They stopped in front of a large Gargoyle, and Snape looked up at the tall gargoyle and stretched his arms. An ugly shade of violet spread over his cheeks as he prepared to say the password. Dante fought not to gap as he realized the professor was blushing.

"Chocolate Frog."

That broke through the haze of worry, and Dante burst out laughing as the Gargoyle moved aside.

"Chocolate Frog?" he choked out. "I can like this old fart."

Snape whirled about with a cold look. "Believe me when I say, Mr. Redgrave," he began in a silky voice, "that you're in enough trouble without adding 'insulting the headmaster' to the list of crimes."

Dante shrugged. "There's nothing insulting in calling an old fart old."

Snape didn't answer as he strode up the stairs to a door, though Dante could almost hear the grinding of teeth as his teacher knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Snape swept inside, hissing to Dante, "You wait outside. When I need you, I shall call."

"Hey!" Dante protested indignantly as the door slammed shut in his face.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"I want to know what he is." Snape said without any preamble.

Dumbledore looked at him with twinkling eyes that only served to further infuriate the potions master. "A little more specific, if you will, Severus."

"This night, I found a sword in his possession." he paused to let that sink in before adding, "He cut his hands on the blade, and healed instantly. This is not common, even in the wizardring world."

Dumbledore sighed, before turning his blue eyes on the closed door. "Tony, come and join us." he called.

Snape's eyes blazed with anger as he was overruled, but he said nothing as the door swung open and Dante stalked in.

"Now, this matter is very personal, so I must ask for his permission before I relay this answer to you." he looked at Dante. "I trust you know what I am talking about?"

Dante crossed his arms over his chest. "Tell him." he said. "If you think he can handle it."

Dumbledore turned to Snape, who looked even more angered, if that was even possible, at what he clearly thought as an outright insult from his student.

"Dante, and Vergil," Dumbledore began, "are both half-demons. Human mother, demon father."

Snape's jaw slackened. He looked at Dante, and back to Dumbledore.

"Demons?" he breathed. "Your niece was married to a demon?"

"Named Sparda." Dumbledore said calmly. "And he did save humanity 2000 years ago-"

"Don't give me fairytales, Dumbledore!" Snape spat. "A devil will always be a devil!"

"So, basically what you're saying, Severus, is that once evil, always evil?"

Snape stared angrily, his nostrils flaring. "So now we're admitting demons in our school to study with our students?"

"Half-demons, Severus, and they wouldn't be the first non-humans to study here."

Dante looked between the two with wide blue eyes. A lot of words were going unspoken, he was pretty sure of it.

"What if they lose control over their instincts?" Snape countered.

"That, my boy, only time can tell. But in the meantime, I see no reason to deprive them of what is rightfully theirs. All things considered, we can never tell who will stay on the good side and who will go down to the dark side, can we?"

Snape clenched his jaw and sat down heavily on a chair. "You understand the ramifications if the ministry gets word of this?"

"I do not see how that's possible, Professor, as none but the four of us knows about this."

"'Four'?" Snape emphasized. "Who else?"

"Besides you and me? That'll be Hagrid and Poppy. And I hope I can trust you to keep it that way?"

The blue eyes were holding the black ones intently, and Dante had to suppress a growl of frustration at the wordless communications. _Wizards and their mysteries...I'm starting to really grow tired of these know-it-alls._

Finally, Snape gave a stiff nod, and brought out Rebellion from his long cloak, placing it on the table. He then turned on his heels. "Come on, Mr. Redgrave."

Dante planted his feet firmly on the stone floor. "Oh, no, you don't," he glared at the Head of Slytherin House, "coz I'm going nowhere without answers."

"He can stay, Severus." Dumbledore cut in. "Close the door behind you on your way out, will you?"

The door slamming shut answered him. Dante whirled around to face Dumbledore, arms crossed over his chest and eyebrows raised. The elder wizard leaned forward in his chair, giving Dante his full attention, and Dante would've squirmed under his gaze if he wasn't used to the penetrating ones from his father. As it was, he met the older wizard's eyes with an intense look of his own.

"So you're my great Uncle." he started. "Why haven't I ever seen you before last week?"

"Well, my boy-"

"Don't give me that. It's Dante." _You're not gonna pet me, old man, until I determine if you really deserve that kinda privilege._

Dumbledore's eyes went sober, the twinkling vanishing. "I have a lot of enemies in the Wizardry World, Dante, and many of them would like nothing more than to get any leverage against me, by any means necessary."

Dante groaned. "Now where have I heard that before?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Entirely true. I can only imagine what it'd be like to have two ancestors like me and Sparda. Your grandfather never really approved of the choice your mother made, but believe me when I say I was really happy about it. Sparda was a wonderful..."

"Boy?" Dante supplied helpfully. "That's what everyone seems to be to you."

The twinkling was back in the headmaster's eyes. "Oh, I'm afraid even I won't call your father that. He was a good 1,903 years older than me at that time, if my memory serves me. Anyway, he was a wonderful demon," Dante snorted at the choice of words, "And despite the enemies haunting him, he tried to stay with his family for as long as he could. He confessed to me before he had left that, he had found evidence that the Emperor was stirring in the underworld. He was afraid they might come after his family. I told him to use the Fidelius charm."

Dante frowned. "What's that?"

"It's used if wizards need to keep someone's location a secret. A person is chosen to be the secret keeper, and unless he or she gives up the information, no one will find the person they're hiding, even if they enter and search the room their intended victims are actually in. To them, they will be invisible.

"I suggested myself as the secret keeper. Sparda tried to protest by saying that he himself would be the secret keeper, so that even if he had died in the fight, the secret would be safe. I ultimately convinced him that even the strongest person could break under torture, while Mundus will never suspect me as a secret keeper. Sparda finally relented.

"The next year, your mother came to me and requested me to lift the charm. You and your brother were old enough to go to school by then. She wanted you to have the same environment any normal child grows up in. I considered it, and eventually had to concede hiding your whole life was not an option. I withdrew it, but set up wards that were designed to prevent any full demon from entering. But that was a weaker spell, and ultimately proved futile. Mundus managed to get to you and-"

"Kill my mother." Dante finished, sighing. "A lot of good magic's gonna do us, then."

"For all of the tales of the heroes of the Wizardry World," Dumbledore said quietly, "We are very feeble when it comes to demons. There are spells that can kill the low-ranking ones, but very few that are much effective when used against stronger ones. In fact," his eyes twinkled again, "I seem to recall a particular incident when your father and I engaged in a sort of dueling practice. But it turned out to be nothing more than a target practice, as your father put it. He dodged most of my hexes, and the rest all but bounced off of him, the wounds left healing instantly. He even wanted to see if the killing curse would have any real effect on him. I told him I had no desire to be subjected to exactly that from my dear little niece."

The mental image of Dumbledore running for dear life while Eva chased her uncle around the Sparda house with a wand made Dante burst out laughing. Dumbledore smiled, then became grave again as he continued.

"After the two of you were born, for your safety, our communication lessened to the point of one letter each month. But that letter was always sent at a specific date of the month, so that I may know that she was well.

"When I didn't get my reply letter in time, I came to find you, only to find the house in ruins." there was profound sorrow in the elderly wizard's eyes, but Dante had his own head bowed and therefore couldn't see it. "I found both human and demon dried blood splattered throughout the house. I, naturally, came to the conclusion that none of you were alive.

"We found you during the school admittance process. Each year, we look out for more students capable of magical activities, in order to be admitted in the school, and you can say that we stumbled upon you and your brother. The American Ministry of Magic notified me that there was some sort of essence with your accidental magic that they couldn't identify. And the American school refused to take you in for that reason even though you were wizards. It was then that I suspected it might be one of you."

Dante nodded to himself. So that had been what Draco Malfoy had meant when he said that the American ministry had rejected him.

"So I sent Fawkes," Dumbledore went on, gesturing to a beautiful bird that had just came sweeping down from outside to land on his shoulder, "to investigate my suspicions. After confirmation, I sent Hagrid to you, and went to Vergil myself."

Finishing with a sigh, Dumbledore said, "Does that explanation satisfy you, Dante?"

Dante shrugged, wiping his eyes on his sleeve in a quick motion before looking up. "I guess it'll have to do. Vergil won't be so forgiving though, I gotta tell you already, old man."

Dumbledore nodded. "I know."

The two fell silent for a moment. Then Dante asked with a frown, "What's the deal with that severe snake?"

A crease appeared between Dumbledore's eyebrows. "Sorry?"

"Professor Snape."

Dumbledore was suddenly thrown into a coughing fit. "I'd have to ask you to be more respectful to your teachers."

Dante grinned. "As much as that nickname fits?"

"I'm not really sure what you want me to say to that."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. I can't blame you for not answering, though, that guy's scary."

"Indeed, that is one way of putting it. Which brings up the question: What happened tonight between you and him?"

"Oh." Dante shrugged. "Like he said, I got my hands cut on my sword. He saw the cut healing, decided it was a crime to heal so fast, and here we are."

"The problem here is, my boy, I've seen your father's skills: and I find it very difficult to believe an offspring of his might cut their hands accidentally."

Dante blew out a breath. "Oh, to hell with it. Snape decided to dig out all my belongings. He used some kinda summoning charm, and that sword went flying towards him. I tried to grab it by the handle, but instead grasped the blade. So there."

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling madly. "Ah. Very courageous, my boy, but it was not needed. The Summoning Charm always summons the objects in such a way as to not harm the caster. Professor Snape was never in any real danger."

Dante stared, and then covered his face with his hands. "So I'm in this mess for nothing."

"Basically." Dumbledore confirmed with a sympathetic smile. "Any other queries?"

"One." Dante finally plopped down on a chair, putting his feet up on the desk. Dumbledore flicked his wrist, making the shoes fly off his feet and towards the door. The door opened by itself, sending the boots outside and then slamming shut.

Dante was on his feet in an instant; glaring daggers at Dumbledore, who merely smiled serenely. "I wasn't enjoying the view, my boy. It seems you have been to many dirty places lately."

"Green house." Dante muttered. "Blame Professor Sprout. Anyway, what was I saying:" he sat down again, now crossing his legs at the knees. "I want to know what's up with Harry Potter."

Dumbledore nodded. "I thought you might inquire that. You know who Lord Voldemort is?"

"Some kind of Dark Lord who everyone seems to think has an unspeakable name."

"Lord Voldemort is the most powerful Dark Wizard of this century. He rose to power almost thirty years ago by gathering minions and all manners of dark creatures and offering them protection and wealth. Ministry could do nothing but watch helplessly, their power far too insignificant. His minions were known as the Death Eaters. Harry's parents openly and vehemently opposed Lord Voldemort and were active fighters in the war against the Dark Side.

"It was getting to the point where it seemed that nothing could stop Voldemort's reign, when Harry Potter was born. Lord Voldemort targeted the infant."

"Why?"

"That, my boy, is a story for another day."

Dante pouted a bit. "Come on, gramps?"

Dumbledore laughed. "I'm afraid not, Dante, though I must wonder how your parents managed to keep you in line with the priceless look you have there."

"They couldn't." Dante said easily. "Not completely, that is."

"Back to the story: Lord Voldemort targeted the boy, and when Harry was one year old, attacked the house. James and Lily Potter died trying to protect Harry, allowing Voldemort to get to the boy. He sent the killing curse straight at Harry's forehead. It rebounded off and back to its caster, leaving Harry with a lightning shaped scar. We took Harry to his only relatives, his mother's sister Petunia Dursley and her family. That's where Harry grew up."

Some part of Dante couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. Harry had a family, at least, unlike himself. _Shut it,_ he thought, _he's lost his parents when he was one. You had six years with both of them._

"What makes that so extraordinary?" he asked.

"The Killing Curse is not a spell one can simply block or deflect using another spell, Dante. To date, there is only one person who survived the Killing Curse, and that is Harry Potter."

Dante took a moment to contemplate that. "So that's why they call him the Boy Who Lived. Got it. And my father wanted that tested on him? Could've used a lesson in self-preservation." He looked up to meet his professor's blue eyes. "Do you think he would've survived?"

"If you want my honest opinion, Dante, I should say I do not. Hence the refusal to cast it in the first place."(1)

"Hm. What happened to Oldy Voldy?"

Dumbledore's eyes widened a tiny bit, before he chuckled. "That's a good name." he approved. "Many are inclined to think he died, but I personally am of the opinion that he is somewhere out there, waiting for his chance to come back."

Dante nodded slowly. "But he's a human, right?"

"Yes. But do not take him lightly, he has invented a lot of spells, performed a lot of rituals on himself, and might be capable of causing significant damages to even demons."

"Oh."

Silence reigned. It was Dante, again, who broke the silence. "Chocolate Frog?"

Dumbledore's eyes returned to its twinkling. "Why, yes. I find them delicious."

"Snape didn't seem to like it."

"Professor Snape never approved of my passwords named after subtleties, just like most other teachers. Unfortunately for them, I never relented."

"So you got those things in here?" Dante asked, eyes bright with hope. "Do you have Strawberry Sundaes?"

Dumbledore looked confused. "What?"

Dante gaped at him like he had grown nine heads. "You don't know what Strawberry Sundae is?!" he shook his head. "That's it, what's the fastest way to get to a Muggle town?"

"Floo." Dumbledore said. "The fireplace. But-"

Dante didn't look at all deterred by the prospect of stepping into the fire. "Then what are we waiting for?"

Half an hour later found Dante and Albus Dumbledore back in the office, Dante balancing eight strawberry sundae glasses while Dumbledore placed a cooling charm on an airtight box.

They arranged it in, and Dumbledore declared with a smile, "That was the most delicious subtlety I have ever tasted."

Dante grinned. "Told ya."

Dumbledore sat back at his desk. "As enjoyable as our time together has been, I'm afraid it's past your bedtime, Dante."

Dante scowled. Hard. "Tell that to Snape." he said. "I got detention. Work with Filch for fourteen nights straight."

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose involuntarily. "What brought that about?"

"I tried to bring his oversized ego down to eye level, so..."

"Ah. Be careful then, Professor Snape can hold grudges down to the next generation."

Dante gaped. "You're not joking, are you?"

"Unfortunately not."

"So he's got something against Harry's dad or mom?"

Dumbledore straightened. "What has he done to make you think that?"

Dante shook his head impatiently. "C'mon, don't tell me you didn't notice the way he glares at Harry all the way from the stuff table."

"True. Then I have to admit you're right about Harry's father. Professor Snape and James Potter were together in Hogwarts, and they never saw eye to eye."

"Together?" Dante gaped.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, but he still managed to tame it down enough to send a disapproving look. "You know what I mean, Dante."

Dante shrugged. "So, was it like some kind of rivalry?"

The old wizard hesitated. "In a manner of speaking."

Dante narrowed his eyes. "So, it was picking, wasn't it? Bullying. Either Snape picked on Harry's dad, and…nope, Snape thinks Harry's a spoiled brat. So, Harry's dad was a spoiled brat and he picked on Snape."

Dumbledore's eyes were slightly wide in surprise. "You're rather shockingly perspective when you want to be, my boy."

Dante puffed out his chest in reply, but inside he was turning the information over in his mind. It didn't make much sense, in his opinion, that Snape would choose to bully students after being subjected to the very same treatment. He shrugged, giving up, and said, "So, I get the picture now…sort of."

"Speaking of pictures:" Dumbledore stood. "I have a photograph of your mother, Eva. If you want it-" he opened a drawer and handed a framed photo to Dante. "You can have it."

Dante felt his mouth drop open as he looked at the frame. His mother was wearing her trademark long red coat, but she was moving! She was currently waving at him with a soft smile, her long blonde hair fluttering gently.

"Mom?" he called tentatively, not sure if his mother could answer him.

She didn't speak, but reached out a hand against the frame. Dante automatically reached with his, the fingertips brushing against cold glass instead of warm skin.

He bit his lip, and nodded wordlessly, signifying he did want the picture, and then pocketed it. Blinking furiously to get rid of the glassiness in his eyes, he cleared his throat and met Dumbledore's eyes.

"Thanks." he muttered.

"You're welcome, Dante. Now off with you, Argus does not like to be kept waiting. One thing: Keep an eye on Vergil for me, will you?"

Dante nodded. "You don't say."

"And," Dumbledore handed Rebellion to the boy, "I trust I don't have to mention that this stays between the two of us?"

Dante numbly tucked the sword beneath his robes, speechless for once in his life. Then he made for the door, and turned back, simply stood for a moment, raising his hands, dropping them, and raising them again.

"Oh, blast it!" he exclaimed finally, and embraced the headmaster. Smiling, Dumbledore returned it. Finally, Dante let go, his face pink, and ran off without another word.

Albus Dumbledore walked over to Fawkes, stroking the bird's feather, and chuckling. "I couldn't have asked for a better grandnephew, don't you think, Fawkes?"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Morning found Dante missing two of his classes through sleeping.

He was just about in time for their Defense against the Dark Arts class, taking his seat beside Hermione a split second before the door opened to let in Professor Quirrell, with his typical garlic scent. Dante grimaced.

"That guy's seen too much Dracula." he muttered under his breath to Hermione, who glared at him.

"Even you gotta admit that's not normal." Dante countered. Hermione simply frowned, before turning his eyes back to their professor.

After the attendance had been taken, a blonde girl raised her hand.

"Why do you always wear that on your head, sir?"

"Oh, that. That was g-g-given to me by a p-p-prince of Africa after I k-killed a zombie that was c-c-causing p-problems for them. I wanted t-t-to honor the g-g-gift, so I a-always wear it."

Dante snickered. "Guy's got nervous syndrome. On top of stuttering, that's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in my life."

"Shut. Up." Hermione hissed through clenched teeth. Dante fell silent with a scowl.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Meanwhile:

"Chocolate Frog!" McGongall said to the gargoyle. It didn't budge.

"Albus must've changed it again." She murmured, annoyed. "Let's see, Borttee Botts every flavor beans, Sugar squeal, butter beer, sherbet lemon….." The list went on.

Five minutes later, and McGongall was still searching for the password, when Dumbledore himself approached her from behind.

"Oh, dear." He said, looking apologetic. "I forgot to tell you: the password's been changed. Let me see." he turned to the statue, "Strawberry Sundae!"

The great lion moved aside, leaving McGongall blinking.

"Why, Minerva," Dumbledore said brightly, "Don't you like it?"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

During the first week of detention, Dante discovered a lot of things: The trophy room would make for a great dueling place, Filch's cat could tell him apart from his brother, and Bloody Baron, the Slytherin ghost, wandered about the school all night long.

"How'd you die?" he asked the ghost one night when Filch wasn't around. Mrs. Norris sniffed and meowed, he patted her head. "Quiet, milady."

She fell silent. Dante had to spend a long time in the school grounds searching for rats, but it was worth it, for Mrs. Norris now liked him more than she did her owner. It was a handy advantage.

Bloody Baron glared at him for a moment.

"C'mon, please?" pleaded Dante. "It seems like quite a fight, what were you, a knight?"

The Baron was still for a moment, before he shook himself and went straight through Dante in his haste to get away. Dante, wheezing, feeling like a bucket of ice-cold water had been dumped on him, yelled with a scowl, "Thanks a lot for that!"

Mrs. Norris hissed fiercely in agreement.

He told Vergil about the dueling place that very afternoon, in a deserted place by the lake. Vergil agreed easily.

"You brought the photo?" he asked in clipped tone.

Dante pulled out the one he had back from Hermione. He had planned on giving it to Vergil anyway, but a fight seemed like the best way to sort the differences out between them. "Will be kept on the House Cup." he said. "Winner's trophy."

"Fair enough." Vergil pulled out Yamato from its blue sheath. It glittered in the sunlight.

"Careful with the sword." Dante warned him. "Snape almost banished mine. We can't be seen."

"We won't be." Vergil said, looking his sword up and down, before sheathing it with a clang as Malfoy and his gang came up to the lake, snickering to themselves over some awful joke.

"What was that?" Malfoy asked, eyes narrowing. "What are you hiding?"

"What're you sniggering about?" Dante shot back.

"None of your business, Redgrave."

"Then keep your ugly nose out of ours." Vergil told them, frowning in distaste as he subtly moved the sheath inside his robe.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Setting the photo on the Cup, the twins took up positions six feet away from each other. Locking eyes, Dante allowed his lips to break into a cocky smirk, but deep down, he had to wonder at the sheer amount of hatred in Vergil's eyes. It gave him room to worry a bit about his life.

Just as the first clang echoed off the room, there was a small cry.

Dante got his sword into a vertical position to parry Vergil's second thrust, gripping the handle of his sword with both hands. His brother didn't press, only rested Yamato lightly on Rebellion's blade as they turned to face the onlookers.

Hermione Granger had her hands clapped over her mouth, Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter were both gaping and Neville was chalk white as the four gathered in the entrance.

"What are you doing here?" Dante asked, voice unnaturally loud in the thick silence.

"N-never mind!" Neville stammered. "We'll just…we'll go somewhere else, right, Harry?"

"So you're the leader of the pack." Vergil said in his usual, stone cold voice, addressing Harry Potter. Neville tugged on Harry's clothes again, but Harry didn't move.

"Er…Harry?" Ron tried. "I think there's a_ real_ duel taking place here." He eyed the large swords nervously.

"Are you trying to kill yourselves?" Hermione had finally found her voice, and it came out shrilly. "Where did you get these swords? This goes against all rules!"

Vergil drew Yamato up and walked slowly towards the girl. Hermione froze, her mouth open.

"What I do with _my _sword is not for you to meddle about, hu-"

Dante stepped between them, his own sword up. "I think it's in your best interest to _leave_." He said to the four Gryffindors, relieved Vergil didn't get to finish 'human'. "We're playing a game that brings risk to the audience."

"And we'd appreciate it if you do not breathe a word of this to anyone." Vergil finished, his eyes flashing warningly at Hermione. "Also in your best interest."

Ron suddenly looked angry. "Pretty worried over our best interests, aren't you?" he cut in.

Harry held up a hand to stop him. "I'm here for a duel." he said finally. "With Draco Malfoy."

A light laugh shattered the tension. It was Dante. "Malfoy?" he choked. "You think that guy's got the guts it takes? He's snoring in his bed! Vergil had to tiptoe around him to come here!"

All traces of anger vanished from Ron's face as the four exchanged glances. "If that is the case-" Hermione said slowly, "Then he's been planning this. He never intended to come, he-"

A voice echoed in the hallway.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

The six of them exchanged a glance. _Flich? Mrs. Norris?_

They silently walked towards the door, Dante sweeping the photo up and tucking it in his pocket. He and Vergil gently put their swords back in their places. They had just turned the corner when footsteps indicated that Filch had entered the trophy room.

Dante went pale. "That cat knows my scent." He mouthed to Vergil as they crept along.

Before his brother could answer, Neville had screamed in fright and toppled over Ron who toppled over a suit of armor, bringing it down with a clash.

"RUN!" Harry cried, and made good on it. They moved through corridors after corridors,

Dante breaking into a grin as he realized they were heading for the third-floor corridor.

They stopped near the Charms classroom, the brothers not even out of breath, the others gasping for air.

Dante winked at Vergil before making a gesture towards the end of the corridor. Vergil returned his smirk with one of his own, nodding slightly.

They were going there tonight, as soon as these four were out.

"I _told_ you." Hermione wheezed, bent over. "I-told-you."

"We got to go back to the Gryffindor tower." said Ron. "Quickly as possible."

"Malfoy tricked you." Hermione said.

"We heard, Ms. I-told-you-so." Dante cut in. Ron snorted. Hermione glared daggers.

"Let's go." Harry said.

But Peeves came hurtling towards them, cutting off their way. Dante grimaced, this ghost was nothing but trouble.

And so it proved when he gave them up in half a minute by screaming "STUDENTS OUT OF BED!"

They ran again, this time towards the door at the end. Dante exchanged a glance with Vergil.

"This is it!" Ron exclaimed as they slammed into the door. "We're-"

Vergil pushed him away roughly from the door, pulling out his wand and saying 'Alohomora' under his breath. The door swung open. They got in and closed it behind them.

While the others strained to hear outside, Neville reached up and tapped on Dante's shoulder. Dante nodded, putting a finger to his lips and shifting to place himself in front of the terrified boy. He pulled out Rebellion silently.

A three headed dog was standing there, covering the space between the floor and the ceiling. It was perfectly still, three sets of eyes fixed on the six intruders. It was sizing them up, Dante could tell. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Vergil bring Yamato out. The brothers crossed their swords, their eyes on the dog's own.

"He thinks the door is locked." They heard Harry whisper. "I think we'll be okay…"

"Depends." Dante said. "How good are you guys with pets?"

Silence followed. Dante could tell Harry had noticed the dog, but he didn't take his eyes off….he would rather not be taken by surprise.

The dog lunged just as the door was opened by Harry, only to get a slash to the face by Yamato. Rebellion followed swiftly, cutting deep across the toes. Howling in rage, the monster grabbed for them again. Exchanging a look with Vergil, Dante flipped back and out the door, landing on his feet in the corridor the same time as his twin. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville were trying to keep the door shut….and failing as the dog was pushing from the opposite side. Vergil went forward and joined them, slamming the door closed and locking it.

They ran together until the end of the corridor, where four Gryffindors went for the upper staircase while Dante accompanied Vergil to the lower one. After the four students were out of sight, Dante and Vergil jumped down the rest of the way to the first floor, landing on the balls of their feet and without a sound.

"We gotta clean these." said Dante, motioning to the swords. Vergil whipped out his wand and muttered another incantation, vanishing the blood. At times, it impressed Dante how far ahead Vergil was of the other first years in Charms and possibly, DADA. He didn't know about Hermione, though.

"You noticed the floor?" Dante asked quietly.

"I'm surprised _you_ did." Vergil replied, moving down the stairs to the dungeons. Dante kept up with him.

"Why always the entrance guards are dogs? Look at the fairytales!"

"As always, your curiosity is misplaced."

"Hey," Dante said defensively, "I did think about it. That dog's probably Hagrid's. We gotta know what Hagrid's been up to this summer, coz this corridor wasn't forbidden last year."

Vergil actually looked impressed. "I think I have an idea." He said, striding towards the common room entrance. "There's been a bankruptcy this summer. Gringotts. I know Hagrid's been there, I've been with Dumbledore the last month before school started. I was there when Dumbledore told Hagrid to withdraw something. Whatever the bank robber was looking for, they didn't find it, that vault was emptied."

"So they bring it into a _school_?" Dante shook his head. "Brilliant idea, gramps. So, are we going?"

"Let's just find out if it's worth it." said his twin.

"Worth? I thought we're doing this for fun!"

Vergil shot him a cool look. "Now that we know there's some precious things down there, if we get caught, trust me, we will be expelled, Dumbledore's relatives or not."

Dante bit his lip. "Right. And there can be other things guarding it, so…that's out of the list. For now. So what about the photo?"

"Keep it." Vergil said. "Until the rematch."

Dante smiled. "Until the rematch." He echoed.

Vergil said the password to the wall in front of them and went in. The wall grinded shut. Dante began making his way back, yawning slightly. Even with his mind buzzing with thoughts, he knew not getting sleep was not something he needed to worry about.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Swords?" Ron whispered for the fourth time. "Real swords! Honestly!"

"It could be just practice, Ron." Harry tried.

Ron snorted in disbelief. "C'mon, Harry! Did you see the murderous glare they were shooting each other? Tony nearly attacked Hermione, too!"

"It was Vergil." Hermione cut in. "Tony has a different voice. And they were fighting over something."

Harry paused halfway to the dormitories. "What?"

"A photo." she said. "It was- it was personal."

Ron blinked. "What, a girlfriend?"

"No, but why would they fight over-" she shook her head, walking to the girls' dormitory without another word spoken.

Tony came up the stairs, frowning. "You guys are still here?"

"Just going." Harry said quickly, and together they made their way up.

**1: I think these people with Sparda blood in DMC was too close to invincible for my liking. Take the case of Dante, nothing seems to kill him; he just bounces back from everything! So I decided that I couldn't let these guys be absolutely immune.**

**Oops! I didn't write Dante and Vergil's fight! Yeah, that's going to come a bit later. It's only one or two chapters away, promise! Please don't kill me, if you do, I'll never be able to update that chapter.**

**Next up: Halloween!**

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	5. Halloween and Quidditch

**Thanks to NightStalkerTBO, the fallen flames and Hellfire44 for favoriting and naradamair, Rain Nero, NightStalkerTBO, Hellfire44, FireEmblemLover39 and Rebeldynasty for following!**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue.**

**Where we left off:**

"_Keep the photo." Vergil said. "Until the rematch."_

_Dante smiled. "Until the rematch." He echoed._

_Vergil said the password to the wall in front of them and went in. The wall grinded shut. Dante began making his way back, yawning slightly. Even with his mind buzzing with thoughts, he knew not getting sleep was not something he needed to worry about._

**Here we go!**

Chapter 4

The next day, Dante headed out in time for the first class, Double Potions with the Slytherins, He opened his homework for a last check as he walked; only looking up when he nearly careened into Neville. The boy grasped at Dante's arm to right himself.

"Sorry." Dante apologized nonchalantly and made to walk past, but the boy quickly stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"You still fought your brother?" Neville asked.

Dante shook his head. "Later." he didn't want to be even a second late for potions.

Just as Dumbledore had warned, Snape had shifted his attention to Dante in the potion's class, stalking past him frequently and keeping a hawk's watch on his potion. But Dante had discovered something else: He had a photographic memory. He didn't know if that was inherited from his father or mother, but it was paying off. He actually studied for potions, doing homework and memorizing the recipe of the potion he'd have to make the next class. That still didn't save him from Snape's sudden and terrifyingly difficult questions, but he still managed to get a few right, much to his teacher's surprise. Even Hermione was fairly impressed at his performance in class.

"You don't even try at the other classes." She accused him after they were outside.

"The others don't give out detentions." Dante said, busy stuffing his books in his bag. "I can't believe we got three classes today. It's Halloween, for goodness's sake!"

"That's going to be celebrated at night." Hermione said. "In the meantime, there's no reason to fall behind in our studies."

"There's a life outside studies, you know." Dante muttered, slinging his bag back over his shoulder. "What else have we got before lunch?"

"Charms." She said. "Try not to lose points…..again." her hair bouncing, she stalked ahead, Neville in tow.

Dante shook his head and hurried to catch up.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill. Dante quietly moved out of striking range, biting his lip to suppress his laughter. His own feather was in front of him, looking relatively harmless, but Dante had a feeling it would explode if he tried anything. His mistakes were always more destructive than anyone else, probably because of his demonic powers, and he had turned out to be laughably bad at Charms. Fortunately, he had Harry as the partner, and _he_ was adequate, though not as good as Hermione.

_Speaking of whom…_

"You're saying it wrong," Hermione snapped at Ron. She was Ron's partner. 'You're a very lucky man', Dante had said in congratulations when they were paired, and he was only half-joking. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.

"I think she will, mate." Dante snickered.

Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Dante grinned a bit. "Told ya." He said, amused at the sulky expression on Ron's face. "Look on the bright side: at least she made sure your feather didn't blow up in your face!"

BOOM!

Laughter floated through the classroom as everyone craned their heads to look: Neville and Seamus were mournfully staring at their feather, or rather, what was left of it, faces stained with ash. Ron looked even sourer.

Harry managed it a few tries later after actually following Hermione's instructions, and thus the class went by. Dante collected his things and hurried on ahead, his mouth watering at the prospect of lunch.

He _almost_ didn't notice Hermione running on ahead.

"Hermione!" he yelled. "Hey, Hermione! Where're you going?"

She didn't reply. Dante shrugged at Neville. "Probably has to look something up in the library."

Hermione didn't turn up for lunch. Dante didn't think much of it; she just might have been too occupied to notice the time. He finished his lunch ravenously, and though he was surprised when Hermione didn't come to Transfigurations, he brushed that off too. Maybe she had finally learnt how to fall asleep in the library.

He smiled at the thought; if that was the case, he'd make something of her yet.

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Dante had to admit, there was no shortage when it came to decorations in the Great Hall. And the food!

He was halfway through his turkey, when he felt Neville scoot closer to him.

"What is it?" he asked. "You want some?"

"Hermione," Neville said, looking ashen. "Parvati says she's been crying in the bathroom all afternoon."

Dante frowned. "What? Why?"

"I don't know, but Ron said some bad things earlier after Charms. He said Hermione's a nightmare and so no one can stand her."

Dante shook his head. Girls…who cried at this kind of trivial stuff? Though he did have to admit that not having friends sucked, there was no reason to miss a perfectly good feast over it. If she was in the girls' bathroom, there was nothing to be done anyway, he wasn't about to go looking for her and ruin his own meal.

So he continued to swallow down his food and tried to push down the concern he was feeling. She was being stupid, anyway. Dante actually considered her as a friend, and he saw no reason why she wouldn't understand that.

But the food didn't feel as delicious as it did before. It actually felt a bit bitter. Dante scowled and bit down into the meat more viciously. His stomach felt full.

"Oh, hell." He hissed finally, pushing his plate away. "Neville, take some food up to the common room for me."

"Where are you going?"

"To knock some sense into a bushy haired idiot." He stood, and left the Hall, feeling the Gryffindors' eyes on him as he did. Well, he would stare too if someone left the Halloween feast just when the more delicious foods were coming up.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

He found the cubicle locked. Frowning, he knocked.

"Go away, Parvati!"

"Honestly, Hermione!"

There was a short pause. "Oh, Tony!"

"Five points for impeccable answer!"

"What are you- why are you here?"

"I'm starting to wonder that myself. Out of there, Hermione. The feast is in full swing."

"You're here for me?" she asked in a small voice. It really didn't suit her. "You're missing the food!"

"Which is why you're going to stop your ridiculous moping and come out and back with me to the hall. Get out on your own, or I swear I'll go in and drag you out."

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me!"

There was a moment of silence. Dante really hoped she'd understand the message he was trying to send. Just classmates didn't give anything up to help their peers. Only a friend would miss a feast to help her.

And then…"Give me a minute."

Dante smirked. "Sixty seconds. One, two, three…."

He was rewarded with a choked laugh. He felt a grin spread over his face, but kept counting.

"40….45….46…."

"That's not fair! You skipped!"

"55….56…"

The door opened to reveal a disheveled Hermione. Her eyes were bloodshot and teary, and her hair was wild, but she was smiling.

"You're impossible, Tony." she said.

Dante bowed. "Thank you. I do try."

She smiled weakly, and walked to the sink and washed her eyes and face, muttering a charm that quickly untangled the knots in her hair.

"You…uh…" Dante gestured with a hand, "You understand that Ron was just letting his mouth run away with him, right?"

She bit her lip and didn't say anything.

"I mean, you're really annoying most of the time and you get bossier than Professor McGonagall sometimes, but no one thinks of you as a 'nightmare'. I don't think. And besides, you've got friends, like Neville and…um, me I guess?"

"Oh, Tony!"

Dante staggered back under Hermione's weight. She had thrown herself at him, flung her arms around his neck and was renewing her cries. On instinct, he wrapped his arms around her, even as he tried to think what could've caused this sudden onslaught. She was just fine a moment ago! Jeez, he was never, ever getting a girlfriend. Not that his single status was helping right now.

"It won't hurt to lower that bossy attitude, though…" he finished lamely. "Um…Hermione, you're choking me."

"Oh, sorry." She pulled back hastily. "It's just…thanks for coming after me."

"I'd really thank you to get a move on." He advised, sending her running to the sink again to fix her appearance. He chuckled at her haste; she really didn't want him to miss the food. Or maybe _she_ didn't want to miss the food.

Suddenly, his ears perked up. "Hey, did you feel that?"

Hermione was drying her face with a towel. "Feel what?"

"Felt like earthquake." He paused. "There!"

Even Hermione could feel it now, a tremble that shook the walls and the floor. She cried out and crouched under the sink to protect herself should the roof come down. Dante spun around in a circle, looking around. He could hear a thumping sound now. It was like something- or someone, most likely- very heavy was coming this way.

"Hagrid?" he wondered, walking forward.

A giant troll stuck its head in.

Dante stifled a yelp of surprise, and instinctively moved back.

The troll entered. The door slammed shut on its own.

Dante blinked. Did someone else shut the door, or did the troll have magical skills? Either way, they were in a world of trouble.

"Hermione," he whispered, taking the few steps necessary to move in front of her, blocking her view of the approaching troll, "Close your eyes. Don't move. Don't even breathe if you can help it."

"But…."

"Shut up and do as I say!" he hissed. Hermione fell silent and obeyed, to his immense relief.

Dante was feeling a bit of excitement and a bit of dread. The rest was simply adrenaline, and his demonic energy pumping through his veins. He edged his way forward, and waited for the troll to move away from the entrance before running to the door and leaning back against it. He whistled. The troll whirled about, club raised over its head, ready to strike. Dante dove away. The club smashed the door to pieces.

Hermione screamed. Dante ignored it; he had no time to reassure her. He whistled again, waiting until the troll's eyes were fixed on him and then threw a piece of debris at its head, making it howl in rage and confusion. When the thing finally calmed down enough to poise its club for another strike, Dante ran past it and out into the corridor, now confident that the troll had its full attention on him. Sure enough, he heard the pounding footsteps behind him. Well, at least Hermione was now out of the way.

But then the thing stopped, and Dante paused and looked over his shoulder. He barely reined in a foul curse he'd heard his mother say once.

Ron and Harry were standing near the end of the corridor, eyes the size of saucers as they looked between Dante and the mountain troll, the latter of which, now that its attention had been diverted, looked rather conflicted, glancing at Hermione, then Harry and Ron and back at Dante before repeating the cycle all over again.

A plan formulated in Dante's head. It really wasn't much of a plan, but it was the best he could come up with. He raised his hand, closed his eyes, and called to his sword, Rebellion.

"Hey, you two, get Hermione out!" he yelled to Ron and Harry. "I'm getting this away from the door!"

"Tony?" cried Ron, seemingly only just snapping out of his trance. "What are you- yeah, Hermione, right!"

Dante whistled at the troll, "Hey! Over here!"

The troll hesitated, looking between Ron and Harry, and back to him.

"That's a ladies bathroom." Dante said, pointing with his thumb; then pointing over his shoulder. "Gents is over there."

Harry and Ron's jaws had fallen open. The troll took large steps towards Dante, who bit his lip as he backed away, leading the troll out of sight of the bathroom door. Ron and Harry were tiptoeing towards the bathroom, and they were nearly to the threshold, but if the troll turned back now, it'd still see them.

_Where's the blasted sword anyway?_

"Good plan of action though." Dante wrinkled his nose. "You're in mortal need of a bath. Not that you care about being proper." Seeing Harry and Ron go out of sight, he breathed a subtle sigh of relief before putting on a look of confidence. "Ever heard of clothes?"

The troll threw its head back and roared, most probably in confusion, and suddenly Dante's blood turned to ice in his veins. Not because of the troll, for another reason altogether.

His sword Rebellion was in the Gryffindor dormitory, safely locked in his trunk, which was made of iron. He had taken to keep it there after the fiasco with Snape. The sword had probably torn through a couple of robes by now, but it had no way of coming to him.

He was unarmed, up against a mountain troll, and _so_ screwed.

He looked about for anything that could be used as a weapon. There was a classroom nearby….

He ran inside, slamming his elbow down on a bench and smashing it to pieces. Grabbing a piece of splinted wood, he turned to face the big troll, gulping as it came within a few feet of him.

"Um….sorry?" he tried.

The troll drew its arm back in reply. Dante performed a side roll as the huge club smashed against the floor, rolling to his feet in one smooth movement.

"I'll take that as 'apology not accepted'." he said under his breath, brandishing his wooden weapon.

_Wooden weapon…my wand!_

He pulled it out from his pocket with his left hand, jumping out of the way of yet another aimless strike. He was quite sure McGonagall had mentioned this during the first class, a spell that changed a blunt wooden thing into a blade of similar shape…he ducked under the now spinning club, thinking….

He pointed his wand at the wooden piece in his hand, trying to remember the hand-motion. "_Acies Acuta_!"(1)

Nothing happened.

"Well, damn." he tried a swirling motion. "_Acies Acuta_!"

Nothing. A blind sweep nearly took his head off.

Frustrated, Dante made a cutting gesture with his left hand, imagining it was the troll's neck he was cutting. "_Acies Acuta_!"

When he looked down at his right hand, the piece of wood had been transformed to a shiny, small, two edged blade.

Dante laughed in surprise, but then his eyes narrowed in concentration as he looked back at the troll. He waited for the arm to come down again before leaping onto the hand, climbing up fluidly. The other hand repeatedly tried to grasp him, but he managed to dodge it.

Reaching the troll's shoulders, he braced his feet against the hard skin, leaning his body to the left to avoid another swipe, and thrust the wood-turned-blade as hard as he could into the space between the collarbones.

Blood flew everywhere, and Dante jumped out of the way to avoid the flailing arms…but he wasn't quick enough to dodge the club that the giant threw off as it clutched at its throat with both hands.

The heavy weapon smashed into his chest, pinning him to the floor, and Dante gasped as the air was knocked out of him. Fiery pain shot through his torso, an all-too-familiar pain that he recognized as cracked ribs.

"Tony, MOVE!"

It was Harry's voice, breaking through the haze of pain. Looking up, Dante saw the troll wavering dangerously, about to fall. He gritted his teeth and pushed the club off of him, jumping out of the way to let the huge monster fall to the side. The force of the fall shook up the whole classroom and sent pieces of debris up towards the ceiling. Dante crouched down, wrapping his arms about his head as he waited for the dust to settle.

Once the whole thing was finished, he pushed himself up using the wall for support. He turned to look down his nose at the troll.

"That's what you get for not having the courtesy to accept a simple apology." he breathed. He turned to Harry and Ron, trying to catch his breath while at the same time trying not to jar his ribs too much. "What took you guys so long?"

"It was pretty hard to get Hermione out of there." Harry explained. "She seemed to be in a bit of a shock."

Ron studied Dante carefully. "You look like hell."

Dante's retort was cut off as footsteps sounded.

"Professors!" Dante said, looking around desperately for any kind of escape route. None found.

Professor McGongall first came in, on her heels Professors Snape and Quirrell. Dante gulped at the expression on her face. Quirrell sat down on a toilet with a whimper, clutching his chest. Snape bent over the troll, checking.

"Dead." He announced, standing up.

Dante didn't even have the luxury of rejoicing over his first ever big kill. McGonagall hissed, "What on earth were you thinking of? You're lucky you weren't killed." Her gaze fell over the dust coating Dante's robes. "Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Dante swallowed. "Well, it's…." _was the feast over already? Why would he be in the dormitory?_

"Please, Professors." It was Hermione, standing in the doorway. Her cheeks were still flushed and eyes still red from crying. "They were looking for me."

The deputy Headmistress stared. "Miss Granger!"

"I went looking for the troll because I- I thought I could deal with it on my own, you know, because I've read all about them. If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Tony lured the troll away while Harry and Ron evacuated me from the dead corner I was in. They didn't have time to fetch anyone else."

The three boys practically gaped at the girl, only turning at McGongall's voice.

"Well, in that case…Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione hung her head. Dante bit his lip….Snape was still searching the troll, and he could only thank God he didn't have the sword with him. Snape would've definitely confiscated it himself this time. As it were, the man was glancing suspiciously at the blade and back to him.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this." Hermione bowed her head further, and Dante sent her an incredulous look. _You get points for your House every class! Except Potions…five points isn't a problem._

"I'm very disappointed in you." said McGonagall. She addressed the boys then. "If you're not hurt at all," Harry shot Dante a look, to which Dante shook his head, not wishing to draw attention to his injury for fear of his half-demon status being discovered, "You'd better get back to Gryffindor tower. The students are finishing their feasts there."

Hermione quickly walked off, head still bowed and shoulders slumped.

Dante grinned a bit at the prospect of food, and then felt his eyebrows rise as Professor McGongall turned to them and said quietly, "Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could've held their nerves while facing a full-grown mountain troll. Potter and Weasley, you each win your house five points. Mr. Redgrave, despite your incredibly foolish choice of tackling the troll on your own, I daresay only a select few grown up wizards could have single-handedly-" she raised an eyebrow at Harry and Ron, to which they both nodded, "-killed this creature. Where did you get this blade?"

Dante managed to hide a smile. She would like this answer. "I transfigured it from a piece of wood. Remember that incantation you mentioned in the first class?"

Professor McGonagall stared in disbelief. "You…but that's very advanced transfiguration…" she shook her head. "Of course. I should have expected." Dante knew what she meant. From the little he'd read about Dumbledore, he knew that his great-uncle used to teach Transfiguration in here. "You win Gryffindor ten points for protecting your housemates, and another ten for the successful casting of an advanced spell. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

Harry and Ron left the room. Dante was also going to when he smelled blood. Human blood.

_Where?_

His eyes drifted to Snape, who was limping off to check the dent in the floor. Dante laughed outright.

"Ha! Knew you were gonna trip in your cloak one of these…." He was suddenly cut off as white-hot pain shot through his chest, and he doubled over with a gasp. McGonagall looked up sharply from where she was repairing one of the benches.

"What…?" her eyes fell on Dante, and she pursued her lips. "Where are you hurt?"

_Damn it, Dante…perfect time to get a sense of humor. _"My chest." Dante said slowly, standing straight. "I think I cracked a rib or two."

McGonagall shook her head in…disbelief? Exasperation? Amazement?

"Come with me, Mr. Redgrave." Snape cut in. His eyes conveyed easily, _Don't think I haven't noticed your little jab._

Dante nodded, just relieved that he was being escorted by someone who already knew of his demonic heritage.

As he passed Quirrell, he started. There was a dark aura about that guy…almost suffocating. The feeling lasted for only a second, but left him with a new feeling: That he was being watched.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"So what happened?" Dante asked once he was outside. "Why are you limping?"

"Your ribs were damaged by the club?" Snape asked him, ignoring the query.

Dante shrugged and winced. "Yeah."

"Come over here."

He mildly crossed the short distance to stand in front of his professor. The elder wizard pointed the wand at his chest and murmured something. A soft blue glow emanated from where Dante assumed the injury was, and then diminished. The pain didn't lessen even a bit, and he frowned accusingly at the Potions' Master.

"A diagnosis spell." Snape told him nonchalantly, pocketing his wand. "It's a fracture, not just a crack. How long does it take to heal bones?"

"Pretty long. A day or two."

"Walk slowly, then." The professor snapped as he started down the corridor "A punctured lung is the last thing we need right now."

"Wow, someone's worried." Dante smirked.

Snape whirled about. "What was that, Mr. Redgrave?"

"You're worried." Dante repeated. "Why's that so hard to admit?"

A vein seemed to throb in Snape's temple, but Dante noted, to his great satisfaction, that Snape still kept his strides short to let him walk slowly.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Next morning found Harry, Ron and Hermione walking leisurely by the lake. It was a holiday; students were all over the school grounds, some sitting on the grass, some admiring the view and some feeding the fishes in the lake. The sun was bathing the grass with its rays, making it shine. The top of the young trees swayed in the gentle breeze.

"When're they gonna release him?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Madam Pomfrey said she was looking forward to be rid of him." She answered. "I think she probably already did. I kept the leftovers from the feast for him, just in case he wants it."

"He will." snickered Ron. "You should've seen how fast he was eating at the feast!"

"You're one to talk." reminded Harry. "Good thing you weren't there, Hermione. It was kind of disgusting."

Hermione smiled a bit, but her eyes were far away.

"You're thinking about last night." said Harry.

"Yes," she said absent-mindedly. "Tony handled the whole thing so well….one would think he'd seen things like this before."

"You're reading too much into this." said Ron. "He's just got better nerve than you."

Hermione blushed furiously. "Gosh, I can't believe I actually panicked!"

"That's really nothing to be ashamed about." muttered Harry, sending Ron a mild glare. "We had fair warning, and still we were afraid."

"Tony didn't panic."

"Tony's a rare species." Ron shrugged, actually having the grace to look ashamed for his earlier statement. "Remember him before the Sorting ceremony? He actually made conversation with the ghosts."

Harry laughed suddenly. "Yesterday, Tony lectured the troll on civilized behavior, remember?"

"He told him to use the correct bathroom." Ron chortled.

Hermione looked stricken. "Merlin's beard! He was lucky trolls don't understand humans."

"Hey, I apologized!"

An ear-splitting grin lightened Hermione's face. "Tony!" she ran off, arms already lifting from her sides before she glanced down at her friend's torso, remembering the injury, and, restraining herself at the last moment, simply shook hands with Tony. Harry and Ron shared a glance and grinned. "About last night-" Harry began.

"Thanks." The four said in unison. It was hard to tell who said it to whom. All of them had contributed in some way.

"You alright?" Harry asked Tony, who shook his head with a scowl.

"Who spread it around that I fought a troll?" he complained. "I can't even yawn without five students running to call madam Pomfrey!"

Laughing, Harry was about to reply, when he suddenly broke off. Tony's spitting image was striding towards them with a purposeful look.

"We need to talk." said Vergil. Tony didn't turn around to face his brother.

"Not now, Verge."

"Yes, now." Vergil turned on his heels and began to walk towards a small tree, obviously expecting his brother to follow.

Tony threw his hands up in an exasperated gesture, before following.

Three pairs of eyes watched them go. "I don't like their attitude towards each other." Hermione said quietly. "The two act like they're mortal enemies."

"That's true." said Ron, to both Harry and Hermione's surprise. "Brothers aren't supposed to be like that. Something's really wrong."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"What?" Dante asked irately.

"Which professors were there after you took down the troll?"

"Snape, McGonagall….and Quirrell, I think."

Vergil's brow creased. "Anyone injured?"

Dante's eyes widened. Snape was, but why would Vergil….

"What's this about?" he asked. "Yesterday, when Snape was taking me to the infirmary, your prefect came and told Snape she couldn't find you anywhere. So you weren't at the group that went back to Slytherin, and you sure as hell weren't with me. Where were you last night?"

"None of your-"

"You need the information. Play fair, Verge."

Vergil stood still for a moment, before taking a quick glance around and saying, "What I'm telling you is for your ears alone. No one else can know."

Dante opened his mouth to protest, but a look from Vergil was enough to convince him that his brother wouldn't have it any other way. He nodded.

"Professor Quirrell went into the third floor corridor last night. I followed him, but the cat smelled me on the stairs to the third floor. I didn't go any further, but I saw Snape taking the stairs to the third floor when I was coming down. I need to know…"

Dante had a good idea of where this was going.

"If any of them was aiming for the trapdoor." he finished his twin's sentence. "Snape was limping. I think I saw blood. But why would they-"

"They have a dog protecting the trapdoor." Vergil reminded him. "Something is being guarded."

"And Snape does seem the villain type." Dante mused. "But looks can be pretty deceiving, just look at us…and there's something pretty fishy about Quirrell too…"

"Quirrell was in front, remember?" Vergil said, "Snape followed a few minutes later."

Dante straightened. "Wait, you're telling me Snape was trying to _stop _Quirrell?"

"Or trying to take it before him."

"Yeah." Dante said, scratching his head. He had never tried to use his head much, and he felt like it was heating up.

"I'll leave the thinking to you, then." He grinned suddenly, his eyes falling on the dense forest just outside the school boundaries. "You know, we gotta hit the Forbidden Forest sometimes."

"And I'll leave _that_ to _you._" Vergil retorted without missing a beat. "Find a spot. We have to finish our little game."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

First Quidditch match arrived faster than they had imagined.

Dante was pretty excited. Vergil was nonchalant, saying he'd spend the day practicing moves with Yamato - his inherited katana.

"Wow, need prepping for the duel?" Dante smirked. The fight was scheduled that very night, in a very strange spot….over the Forbidden Forest, on two broomsticks. They had both agreed it'd make things much more interesting, or, as for Dante, 'a helluva lot' more interesting.

They had both handled the brooms as easily as they would any devil arm. Their natural talents had not been explored on the pitch, though, and they had never even thought about playing Quidditch for their house teams, both agreeing chasing a ball around would be a waste of perfectly good skills, not to mention the fact that first years were not permitted to participate in team tryouts. That didn't mean there was no fun in watching how a new game worked. Dante had seen plenty of action movies, and even though he could almost always do better than the heroes in the movies and came up with a lot of errors in the moves the characters used, he still enjoyed many of the films.

"Only so Yamato's thirst is quenched enough to pull back in time to avoid taking your head off." Vergil replied. They were standing by the lake, the cold wind whipping about them. The cold was bone chilling; no one was outside. A few water drops from the frosts caught in their hair. Dante blew a breath, watching the white puff it created before dissipating slowly. Vergil rolled his eyes at his brother's antics, smoothing his hair back with one hand. None of them even shivered once from the cold.

From the warmth of Gryffindor tower, Ron was looking down at the two figures.

"See, Hermione?" he said. "They're up to something, I'm telling you."

"Like how to sneak in a skate board for the upcoming December?" Harry suggested. He and Hermione were playing Exploding Snap, and Hermione was winning. A frown creased Ron's brow.

"What's a steakboard?"

"_Skateboard,_" said Hermione, "is a muggle playing instrument. They're designed to slide on ice. It's fun to play."

"Doesn't seem as fun as Quidditch." Ron said with a dismissive shrug.

"Maybe." Harry agreed. "But it still looked fun when my cousin played…" he trailed off.

Hermione paused her mulling over her cards. "Ever played it, Harry?" she asked.

"No." Harry admitted. "My cousin, well, they had their own team."

Hermione looked at him sympathetically. "Oh." There was a short pause. "Tony, well…you know, Harry, you two have more in common than you think."

"Like what?" Harry asked distractedly as Hermione turned her card over.

"For starters, he too had lost his parents, and from what I heard, grew up in an orphanage. He once gave me a picture of his mother for safekeeping…"

"Why would he give that to you?" Ron interrupted.

Hermione bit her lip. "Oh, I shouldn't have told you that."

"Oh, maybe his brother's making a grab for it?"

She sighed and relented. "It's not 'maybe', he is. Remember that fight in the trophy room? They were fighting over their mother's picture."

"Blimey." Ron muttered, looking suddenly thoughtful. "We probably need to be careful. His brother, well, he gives me the creeps sometimes. Tony killed a troll with a piece of wood….and I can bet his brother matches his power. They're _powerful_, Hermione, and it's better to be safe."

"But they're not inclined to be dark wizards." Harry said thoughtfully. "I've overheard them saying Vold-"

"Harry!"

"You-Know-Who's name. Tony even made fun of him." He grinned as he won the round. Hermione bit her lip again.

"Harry," said Ron, "if they want to be greater dark wizards, they're not going to obey You-Know-Who. Like I said, they're both powerful. Tony's in Gryffindor, though, I don't think _he's_ evil."

With these uncharacteristic, thoughtful words, he fell silent, continuing to watch the two dark figures by the lake.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Despite his words, Vergil came to the stands to watch the game. Dante smirked a bit; walking away from the Gryffindor stands to join his brother. He enjoyed Ron and Hermione's company, but it was Vergil whom he could share all of his thoughts with. Dante knew with absolute certainty that not one player over the field matched their skills with a broom, but if he were to point out where they were going wrong and grin over it, everyone except Vergil would give him strange looks.

His brother didn't smile on seeing him, but Dante had the feeling he was pleased.

"Gryffindor is going to win." Dante declared.

"Don't be so sure, brother." Vergil replied, eyes fixed on the players.

By the first five minutes, Dante had yelled at Harry a total of 20 times. All in his mind, of course.

"What's his problem?" he hissed out loud finally. "I spotted the snitch 20….21 times now! And I'm watching from the stands!"

"Human sight, Tony…" Vergil murmured, also looking exasperated. "Weaklings."

As if hearing them, Harry suddenly saw the snitch. Dante bit his fist as his friend dove forward….and started doing odd dance moves on his broom.

Dante stared. Then snickered. And stared some more, now worried. He looked about. No one had noticed yet. He looked beside him at his brother.

"What's going on?" he asked. "You know anything?"

"It's called jinxing." Vergil said casually. "A wizard is controlling the broom from outside."

"Who?" Dante exclaimed, alarmed.

"Check the teachers' seats."

Dante did, and saw Snape muttering with his eyes fixed on Harry.

"It's Snape, then?"

Vergil sighed dramatically. "Where's Quirrell, Dante?"

And it was then that Dante realized the problem, Quirrell was nowhere to be found. But he could've sworn he was there when the game had started.

"What _is_ with these two?" he murmured.

"One of them is jinxing, the other anti-jinxing." Vergil informed in his monotonous voice. "Otherwise, the broom would've fallen by now."

"Quirrell's doing it." Dante breathed. "He's jinxing. I bet you. I sensed that dark aura that-"

"How good are you at gambling?"

Dante snorted in good humor. "Right. Then it's probably Snape." he looked about. "Let me go check."

Vergil lifted one shoulder in a shrug. Dante ran off to the Gryffindor side, searching for Ron and Hermione. It wasn't hard to spot them, they were cheering beside Hagrid.

"Hey," he said to Hermione, "Saw Harry?"

She looked up and almost squealed in fright. "What….?!"

"Look, you gotta throw off Snape. He's muttering at Harry, Vergil said it's called-."

"Jinxing." She finished. "Have to be." She took the binocular, focusing on the teacher's stand.

"He's right!"

Dante nudged her forward. "Well, get moving then." He himself left to take Quirrell. The guy wasn't too hard to find, he was standing off to a side, whispering, eyes fixed on Harry. Dante gave him a light shove and made him lose his balance.

Harry gained control as soon as Quirrell was thrown off. Looking out, Dante did a face palm; his plan couldn't have gone worse. Snape had been thrown off at exactly the same time, now busy extinguishing flames from his clothes.

_Just _incredible_, Dante! _He quickly said an apology for knocking the DADA professor over, to which he said, "N-no problem." Then he turned back to go to Vergil's side.

"Well, Hermione's timing was off." He told his brother.

"_Your_ timing was off." Vergil retorted. "She didn't know she needed to time anything."

Dante accepted this with a scowl. "So, back to scratch."

"No." Vergil answered coolly. "We know who did the jinxing."

Dante stared. "How?"

"Think. You actually know how to, despite your relentless attempts to forget it."

"Why should I? I've got both you and Hermione for that."

Vergil glared at him. "Because I won't tell you anything."

Dante furrowed his brows. The one who jinxed the broom had planned it in advance. And if he planned it, he'd take precautions not to get caught muttering or to be bowled over while he was jinxing.

The solution was actually very simple.

"Quirrell left the teacher's seat because he had to jinx Harry." he realized. "But why would he-"

"GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

Harry was on the ground, the snitch in his palm, now holding it up. Dante gave Vergil a 'thumbs down', laughing. Vergil rolled his eyes and turned away.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Three cheers for Gryffindors!" yelled Ron.

Harry, Hermione and Dante echoed it. They were drinking tea a safe distance away from the fireplace. The thing was massive, so the heat was like furnace. Dante was sprawled out on a sofa with Hagrid's great black hound's head on his knee, absently scratching it behind the ears. Fang was already half-asleep.

The dog had first sniffed and barked at the half-demon nervously, tail between its legs and ears flat against its head. Dante had to lean forward in his seat and beckon to the pet a couple of times. Hagrid had locked eyes with the boy, and Dante could tell the half-giant had guessed what Fang was so anxious about.

"It's 'kay, Fang." He had said. "He's a friend. Go ter him."

The dog had taken cautious steps forward then, and finally had gotten close enough to allow Dante to pet it. The rest had been easy enough. Too easy, even.

"Hey," he nudged at the dog to wake it, clicking his tongue, "No drooling. We clear?"

Fang simply stared at him for a moment before resting his head back on his lap and falling asleep. _And _drooling.

Ron filled Hagrid in on what had transpired at the Quidditch pitch.

"Rubbish." said the gatekeeper. "Why would Snape do somethin' like tha'?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other. "Actually-"

Hermione was interrupted by soft knocking on the door.

Hagrid opened it a crack. "Ah, Vergil. Come right in."

"Actually, I was looking for Da-" his gaze fell on the three sitting inside. "Tony." He amended.

Hermione almost visibly perked up.

Dante lifted the hound from his lap and carried it to the fireplace, only remembering halfway that human kids weren't supposed to carry large dogs around. He made a show of effort the rest of the way, but Ron's suspicious gaze still followed him as he left the hut.

"I don't like it." Ron said slowly. "Did you see how scared Fang was of him?"

Hermione was frowning. "Was that his name his brother was saying?"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

As it turned out, Vergil wanted to fix the spot for the dueling. They did it from the ground, scanning the treetops and finally setting their sights on a large Willow tree.

"Over that." Vergil decided.

Dante agreed. "Okay. Tonight. 12 o'clock."

The door to Hagrid's hut opened at that moment, followed by Hagrid's loud voice, "An' yeh forget abou' Nicholas Flamel, got it? 'S no business o' yours what Fluffy's guardin'."

The brothers shared a look. The dog was called Fluffy, and someone named Nicholas Flamel had something to do with whatever was beneath that third floor corridor.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

**1: My own invention, obviously! I can almost compare myself with Snape now! *puffs out chest* Almost.**

_**Acies Acuta**_**: Latin for 'Sharp Edge'.**

**Next up: The battle, and the aftermath. Also, what I said I would explain in chapter 6 should be coming next chapter, too.**

**So, did you like this one? Or hated it? Keep the reviews coming, please!**


	6. Sibling rivalry - or is it?

**Thanks to bloodemon2, Kaminari-580, NecRuler and pyroinfurno for favoriting and BadRyuKun, tinypurplegiraffe, NecRuler, OscarFinal1396 and alkizor for following!**

**Here we are at last! The long anticipated duel! It's not too big…I hope it meets your expectations. If it does, please write it down in a review and I'll love reading it. If it doesn't, then please please write it down in a review and I'll try to improve!**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue.**

**Where we left off:**

_As it turned out, Vergil wanted to fix the spot for the dueling. They did it from the ground, scanning the treetops and finally setting their sights on a large Willow tree._

"_Over that." Vergil decided._

_Dante agreed. "Okay. Tonight. 12 o'clock."_

_The door to Hagrid's hut opened at that moment, followed by Hagrid's loud voice, "An' yeh forget abou' Nicholas Flamel, got it? 'S no business o' yours what Fluffy's guardin'."_

_The brothers shared a look. The dog was called Fluffy, and someone named Nicholas Flamel had something to do with whatever was beneath that third floor corridor._

**Here we go!**

Chapter 5

Dinner was a quiet affair for the twins. Dante actually shared smirks with Vergil from across the hall, and to any onlookers it would look as if all differences were sorted out.

There were only two at the staff table who found this ominous. The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore was eyeing the two for some time now, his food forgotten on the table.

"Albus?" McGonagall inquired from his immediate right. "Is something wrong?" As she said it, her eyes followed Albus's line of sight and fell on the twins.

"It seems to me that they're getting along much better." She observed. "Do you see anything different?"

"See? No." Dumbledore turned his eyes back to his food. "Feel? Yes. Enjoy your meal, Minerva."

"Severus, everyone else's dinner is almost finished!" Flitwick said to his colleague.

Snape pushed his plate away, taking his eyes off two particular students at two ends of the hall. "I'm not the Headmaster, Filius, I do not need to stuff myself with food six times every day." He left the table, black cloak billowing behind him.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante pulled his broomstick up, maintaining level with Vergil as they rose above the trees, keeping his eyes locked on him. With his free hand, he held up Rebellion. Lightning flashed across the sky, light glinting off the blade and illuminating the side of Vergil's face. It was going to pour. Very unusual for this time of the year.

Dante made a slight detour and pulled out the photo from his pocket, setting it down on a bird's nest he'd seen earlier on a treetop. Of course, he had his own photo of Eva by then, and he was planning on giving this one to Vergil regardless of who won. But he wasn't about to speak it out and ruin the fun for both of them.

Beneath them, the treetops were cast in the white light for a fraction of a second before again being engulfed in ominous darkness.

Vergil's hand shone with blue energy as he channeled it into his broom, and Dante's flashed red. The twins circled the willow tree once, the outdated brooms going as fast as the wind itself. Satisfied, Vergil stood up on his broom, directing it with only his toes. Dante also stood and let out a whoop of delight. He spread his arms to his sides, going straight upwards and then turning the tip downward, before bending to the side, riding it like a roller coaster. Vergil smirked as he watched his brother.

"I'd advise you to save your _brimming_ energy, because you're going to need every last bit of it, and more, tonight."

"We'll see, big brother!" Dante laughed as he finally stopped his broom a foot in front of Vergil. Yamato was now out of its sheath and flashing blue.

This duel had never been about the photo. It was simply a contest, or even a game, for Dante. For Vergil, it was an opportunity to give Dante his 'just desserts' for taking his mother away.

Dante started it, lunging forward with his sword horizontal. Vergil leaned slightly left and swung Yamato towards the back of Dante's shoulder blades, the red-clad boy ducking under the thrust and slashing at Vergil's legs, but Vergil pulled his broom up at the last moment and Dante was off balance for the briefest of seconds. Vergil used that second to ram his broom into Dante's midsection with full force. Dante just barely managed to avoid the follow-up blow with Yamato's sheath, propelling his broom backwards even as he clutched at the sore spot with one hand, gasping for air. It took him a second to recover.

The distance between them was now no less than six feet, and Dante steadied his breathing before going forward again.

He headed for a clash; the swords this time actually meeting each other with a metallic sound, sparks flowing off. Immediately both of them pulled back, Dante blocking Vergil's sword a couple of inches from his face. Vergil swung Yamato back and switched hands, bringing it forward again in a blur. Dante guided his broom up to dodge it, and his brother was suddenly there on the tip of Dante's broomstick, slashing across his abdomen. Dante rolled off to the side, falling off his broom and onto Vergil's, which was passing a few meters down on the same diagonal line. He pulled up, coming around in front of Vergil, who threw a slash from Yamato, making Dante jump up again to let it pass him by. His jump took him over Vergil's head, and he managed a strike in mid-air, which was blocked, before sending a kick that sent Vergil falling back to his own broom. Dante grabbed hold of his own broom again, going forward, but stopping as he heard a heavy thud of something falling. The silver arc of energy from Yamato that he managed to dodge a moment before had slashed through the tree below, causing a branch to fall.

_It's not like trees can talk…so it can't give us away…_ Dante thought absently as his glance fell over the Willow, which was swaying perhaps more than it ought to in the roaring wind. Then he was almost thrown off his broom as Vergil's sword cut deep into his left leg, all the way to the bone. Dante gritted his teeth against the pain, using the gap the attack created to bring his own sword down into Vergil's arm.

They both stumbled back, clutching their respective injuries, and glared daggers at each other.

"Ooh, did I hurt my big brother?" Dante drawled mockingly.

"Don't flatter yourself." responded Vergil coolly.

The battle raged on for another few minutes, swords and broom moving faster than eyes could see, before they entered a deadlock for the third time.

Dante's hands were trembling with fatigue; Vergil had managed to get in far more hits than he did. Something had changed within his brother, Dante could feel it the moment he had locked his sword on Vergil's in the trophy room. There was some sort of strength within him that hadn't been there before.

Then Vergil raised his sword up, and sent Dante's flying out of his hands.

Dante breathed heavily, clenching his fists. He had lost. He knew from the look in Vergil's eyes that his brother wasn't finished, that there would be something really painful in store for him.

Vergil whispered 'Accio photo' and caught the frame neatly, smirking as he pocketed it. But then he did something that his younger twin would've never seen coming; eyes gleaming with cold hate, he brought up his wand with his free hand and muttered 'Reducto' under his breath.

Dante cried out in surprise as his broom shattered beneath him, and he went plummeting towards the ground approximately three hundred feet below, a strange, blue and white demonic face the last thing his eyes could make out before he felt a pain unsurpassed by anything he had ever experienced, followed by blackness.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Dunno what happened, professor…found him like that near the forest, an' there was a broomstick, broken….looks like the Willow's plummeted him bad."

Dante blinked his eyes open, to be met with the soft blue of his great Uncle.

"Welcome back, Dante." Albus Dumbledore said softly.

Dante tried to sit up, but fell back with a gasp of pain. "Vergil…?"

Dumbledore and Hagrid exchanged a glance. "So he was there." said Dumbledore.

_Now you've done it, Dante…_ "What time is it?" he asked in a pathetic attempt to change the subject. He was feeling a sense of dread at the knowing glance Dumbledore was giving him. He grew even surer that Dumbledore knew exactly what must've transpired when he actually let him shift the topic.

"It's 8:30 in the morning. You already missed your Charms lesson."

"And I'm going to miss Potions." Dante moaned. "Snape's going to-"

"_Professor _Snape, Dante."

"Stick me with Filch again!"

"He knows."

Dante did a double take. "Knows what?"

"That you were injured. In fact, Professor Snape was the one to come to my office and notify me that your brother was not in his bed. Professor Snape, Hagrid and I started the search immediately, and as you must have gathered, Hagrid here was the one to find you. We found Vergil back in his bed a few hours later, so even though we knew that he had gone out after curfew- a punishable offense in itself - we did not have conclusive proof that he had actually been to the Forbidden Forest…until now. Madam Pomfrey has been here to see you once; we- that is, Professor Snape, Hagrid and I all agreed it wouldn't be a good idea to let you go to the hospital wing; there's not enough privacy. You still have some wounds that are mending at a rapid rate. We do not want to cause a stir."

"What's wrong with being a half-demon?" Hagrid asked. "I'm a half-giant and I was allowed in…._Back off, Fang!_"

Fang had probably just woken up, because now he was running towards Dante with the full intention of jumping on him. Dante turned his head to look at the black hound, only now realizing he was lying on his side in a bed that was just the right size for him- must have been Dumbledore's work- in Hagrid's hut. The dog was now being held back by Hagrid. Dante stretched his hand to pat its head, feeling a touch of amusement when Fang's eyes fell closed.

"-still prejudiced." He caught the end of Dumbledore's sentences. The old wizard glanced at Dante's curious expression and for his benefit, continued, "Demons are something far beyond our control, you see, demons are feared by wizards for the same reason that we are feared by the Muggles. Prejudice stems from a lack of understanding, and coupled with fear, it can be very destructive."

Dante pondered on that for a few moments. It made sense, in a twisted sort of way.

"What's wrong with me?" he asked Dumbledore.

"Your left leg and left arm was broken in five different places- already mending, courtesy of the spells Poppy had given. They're working somewhat slower than normal, due to your resistance to magic. Four ribs broken from the Whomping Willow's branches-"

"What willow?"

Dumbledore was looking very grave; Dante found it uncomfortable. "It appears a demonic energy caused one of the Whomping Willow's branches to be cut off. That specific tree does not take very kindly to disturbance."

"So it beat me up." Dante finished with a sigh.

"Indeed. And your spine is broken."

Dante's eyes shot open wide. "What? You mean literally?"

"Yes, my boy. It seems this would take a full day to heal, even with the aid of the potions and spells, judging by the recovery rate."

_You gotta be kidding me…_

"Foun' this hanging on a branch." Hagrid said, holding up the broken pieces of a broomstick. Dante let his eyes fall closed.

He was caught.

"You going to kick me out?" he asked Dumbledore tiredly.

"Should I?" the Headmaster replied just as quietly, blue eyes piercing Dante's icy ones.

Dante held the stare, but didn't say anything. He could see disappointment radiating from the blue orbs; he felt ashamed, but just barely managed not to look away.

"Not today." Dumbledore said finally. "But this is your last warning."

"First, too." Dante muttered.

Dumbledore kept his eyes fixed on Dante's as he said, "Could you excuse us for a moment, Hagrid?"

The gatekeeper, with a glance over his shoulder, left the room.

"I expected you to be more sensible in your use of this." Dumbledore said, flicking his wrist. A second later, Rebellion was there in his hand. "Unfortunately, now I have no other choice but to keep it in my office, until you have given me proof you can be trusted with it."

Dante opened his mouth to protest, but then shut it again. "Right." He said gloomily.

"And I have to take your brother's as well, I'm afraid, because it appears it was Yamato which has cut the branch of the Willow."

Dante grinned. "Suit yourself."

Dumbledore's eyes softened suddenly. "It seems Vergil has harbored more dislike towards you than I had imagined at first. The spell used to destroy this broom was one specifically used for reducing objects to dust. How far above the ground were you?"

Dante pressed his lips together. "Tell ya what, next time I'll bring a meter scale, okay?"

Dumbledore smiled at that, and dropped it.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Potions class started off like any other, Snape stalked in the classroom, took attendance, but skipped over Tony's name.

"Excuse me, professor!" Hermione cried. "You-" she trailed off. Tony really wasn't in the classroom.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Snape asked silkily.

Hermione shut her mouth, turning beet red. The Slytherins snickered.

"A point from Gryffindor for unnecessary interruption." Snape said, turning his eyes back to the paper.

"How can that be?" Hermione whispered once Snape had started taking attendance again. "Tony never misses potions! And how could Snape know that he's not-"

"I'm not color blind yet, Miss Granger, so I can see only two persons with silver hair in this room." Snape hissed through gritted teeth. "And both of them happen to be wearing Slytherin ties. Five points from Gryffindor for second interruption and five more for saying a professor's name disrespectfully. One more interruption and it'll be twenty. Are we clear?"

Hermione went redder, if that was even possible, biting on her quivering lower lip.

"Are we clear, Miss Granger?"

"Y-yes, sir." She whispered.

Satisfied, Snape continued, completely ignoring the hateful glances he was receiving from the Gryffindors.

Once done, he began to give out instructions for today's potion. They were to be divided into pairs. He seemed to be in an even fouler mood than usual; pairing Hermione with Crabbe, Harry with Malfoy and Ron with Goyle.

When it came to Vergil's turn, always Snape's favorite despite not being nearly as good at the subject as Tony was, the professor sent a cold glare at him. "You," he snapped, "Get paired up with Neville Longbottom. I want both of your potions flawless, and the marks will be on both of you."

Ron gasped, incredulous. Vergil moved to make space for Neville, giving him curt instructions while squeezing juice out of his own tree roots. His eyes were clouded in thought, and he seemed rather unfocused on his own task. Their potions ended up a mess, and Snape vanished both and gave them identical zeroes, looking rather triumphant.

Lunch found Hermione disheveled at the Gryffindor table.

"He's not in the library, in Gryffindor tower or on the grounds." She announced.

"Snape's probably killed him off." Ron said, shuddering. "Tony was the only one who ever acted that boldly towards him. Maybe-"

"Shut up, Ron!" Hermione hissed.

Dante absently stared out the window of the hut, adjusting his pillow as he did. His thoughts were constantly straying towards the one thing he was trying to, above all others, keep out of his mind.

He hadn't told Dumbledore, but he had an idea of just how high up he was when Vergil had destroyed his broom. Judging by the fact that they were over the willow, he put the distance at about 350 feet. He wasn't supposed to survive. And Vergil had to have known that…right?

Maybe, Dante decided, Vergil hadn't noticed. That sounded lame.

Maybe caught up in the heat of the moment? The adrenaline rush? Dante remembered the way Vergil's eyes were flashing. Now that, he decided, that was a probable solution. Maybe it was the right one.

Dante really hoped so. The alternative was unfathomable.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dinner found Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville in front of Vergil. Well, Neville was behind the others, so not exactly in front of Vergil.

"Where's your brother?" Harry asked.

Vergil gave a cold smile that chilled him to the bone. He didn't say anything, just pushed past them and strode down the corridor.

Ron gaped after him. "I told you, that guy's creepy."

"Hospital wing!" Hermione suggested, growing pale. "Maybe Tony's in the-"

Harry was already walking down the corridor. With a shared glance, the other three hurried after him.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Madam Pomfrey shooed them off, but not before curtly telling them that the only student that had came in today was a Hufflepuff girl who had slipped in the bathroom.

"How can a student just disappear?" Harry hissed, frustrated.

"Harry, seriously," said Ron, "What if Snape decided Tony's a threat to his plan? You know, with the way he acted, and he's powerful, no denying that."

Just that morning, Harry would've brushed it off, now he felt only dread at the prospect.

"We'll wait until morning." He decided. "After that, we'll go to Professor McGonagall."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante tossed and turned in his bed, his closed eyes squeezing and brows furrowed.

"_Dante! Vergil!" their mother screamed. "Hide in the place your dad showed you! Go!"_

_Dante stared at Eva with wide eyes. "Mum, what about you?"_

"_I'll be fine! Go!"_

_He believed her. He couldn't really think. Another blow shook up the front door, and plasters fell from the ceiling. He ran to his own bedroom and touched a spot on the lower left corner of the wall. A part of the wall swung open, revealing a hole just about big enough for an eight year old boy to stay crouched in. He squeezed in just as the first cry of the demons shook the walls. Dante slapped his trembling hands over his ears and shut the small door. An eerie silence engulfed the place._

_He sat trembling, arms around his knees. It was as if time had ceased to exist. All he wanted was to pretend none of this was happening, that it was a vivid nightmare that would go away as soon as his mother shook him awake._

_But finally, he uncurled his fingers from around his forearms and blinked to focus. This was real, he told himself. This was real. This was happening. And he had to respond._

_Where was Vergil? Was his twin hiding in his own room? Or was he already dead, fighting the demons?_

Fighting the demons…

_A realization shook him to the core and sent a shiver down his spine._

Mum doesn't fight!

_Dante threw open his door. The house was so silent. He ran to Rebellion and then out the door, holding his sword tightly with both hands._

_He stepped over the threshold and into the dining room. Their plates were exactly as they had left them, laden with half-eaten food. And by the foot of the table, there was Vergil, lying face down on the ground, a thin trail of blood soaking his silver-white hair._

_Dante rushed towards him and knelt beside him, putting Rebellion under his twin's nose. The blade blurred._

_Vergil was breathing. But where was his mother?_

_He moved on to the bedroom of his mother. The door was ajar, and there was…_

_So much blood. Way too much blood inside. On the floor. On the bed. And by the dressing table was…_

"_MUM!" he screamed._

_Her golden hair was matted with blood. Her beloved red coat was torn to shreds, and the white shirt underneath was soaked in red as well. And where the smooth skin of her stomach was supposed to be, there was a gaping hole. And the insides-_

_Dante shuddered and moved his eyes to her face. Her eyes were open and staring at the ceiling._

_He shuddered again, and slowly made his way to her side, keeping his eyes away from her midsection._

"_Mum?" he called her, softly, as he knelt beside her._

_She was still._

"_Mum? C'mon, wake up. Vergil is hurt. You need to patch him up."_

_She didn't reply._

"_I would've told you that you need to patch yourself up, but you don't care about yourself, do you? You never do."_

_She remained motionless._

"_Look, mum-" he ignored what his brain was practically screaming at him. She wasn't dead. She couldn't be dead. "Are you angry? I know I didn't ask you for permission before I went out today, but I swear I'll never do it again. Just wake up. Please."_

_She didn't respond._

"_Mum…" his voice broke. "C'mon, didn't you tell us off yesterday for being rude to the girl who came to visit? Isn't it rude to leave without saying goodbye? You won't be rude, right? Right?"_

_His eyes were now burning. "Mum, please…just say something. Anything. I'm so sorry for everything I ever did wrong. I swear I'll always listen from now if you only…"_

_He trailed off as sobs overcame him._

"_You won't come back, will you?" he told her once he had finally calmed down slightly. "Just like father. No, you did it for us. I guess that's something. Not like father, then. I'm sorry I called you rude. I'll just do what you forgot to do."_

_Tears streaming down his face, he closed her eyes with a featherlight touch of his two fingers, pulled off the bedcover and covered her with it so that no one could see her…injuries._

"_Goodbye, mum."_

_And then footsteps sounded from the doorway. Dante looked up to see his brother._

"_No." Vergil whispered, looking paralyzed for a moment. Then he was running forward. Dante moved back slightly, biting his lip as more tears cascaded down. He looked away as his brother threw off the cover and screamed at the sight._

_He watched his brother cry over their mother, murmuring to her just like he himself had done. Then he moved forward and pulled Vergil into an embrace and sobbed on his shoulder. Vergil went still for a second before he, too, broke down sobbing._

_An eternity seemed to pass while they were locked in that embrace. Even long after their tears were exhausted, neither of them were moving away, just drawing whatever comfort they could find by clinging onto the only family they still had. But then, abruptly, Vergil shoved him away and stood. Dante stumbled and regained his balance, wide-eyed at the sudden fury on his twin's face._

"_Verge?"_

"_Where were you?"_

_Dante felt paralyzed. "In…my bedroom."_

"_Why didn't you fight?"_

_Dante didn't reply. His cheeks burned. "I…I was-"_

_He was what? In denial? Too scared to come out and help his mother? Too stupid to realize she was lying to him?_

_Too much of a coward to defend his own mother?_

_Vergil stared at him for a few moments. Then he said quietly, "Coward."_

_Dante shut his eyes._

_His eyes snapped open as he felt Vergil grasp his collar. His brother stared at him for a few moments, and then threw him to the floor and walked towards the door._

_Dante immediately got to his feet. "Wait! Where are you going?"_

"_I'm going to avenge our mother."_

"_But you're-"_

"_Incapable of it? Powerless? Well, at least I don't hide when foes come to our house!"_

Hurt_. Dante thought, but didn't reply. Instead, he took a few steps forward and blocked Vergil's path._

_Vergil's hands clenched into fists, eyes flashing in anger. He gritted his teeth, and slammed the hilt of Yamato into his brother's stomach. Dante fell to his knees, gasping for air. Vergil used the flat side of his blade to knock him aside. Dante slammed into the wall. A sickening crack sounded, and his head exploded in pain. _

_Vergil turned and walked out the door._

_Dante pulled himself to his feet, ignoring the stabbing pain at the back of his head. "Vergil, alright, I'm coming too! I can help!" he called as he ran out the door._

_Vergil was standing just outside the door. He turned to face him._

_He looked older. Like he was eleven instead of eight. And he was wearing black robes._

"_Yes. Yes, you can. Just stand still, like this."_

_Dante did as was asked of him. Vergil pulled out Yamato and smiled coldly at him._

"_Everyone responsible for mum's death will have to die, Dante. Everyone. Even those who were too much of a coward to prevent it, has contributed to her death."_

_And the strange blue-white face took over Vergil's normal features and he stabbed Dante through the heart with Yamato, laughing coldly._

Dante jumped up on his bed, breathing fast. He groaned at the sharp pain that shot up and down his back. He rubbed his right hand across his face, trying to make sense of what he'd just seen.

It was largely what had happened, only the last bit…it wasn't true. When Vergil had gone out, Dante had been dizzy from the pain of the cracked skull, and by the time he had pulled himself up and went outside, Vergil was long gone.

He had had this nightmare many times, but never with that last bit.

He lay awake for the rest of the night.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Breakfast was a silent affair for all of the four Gryffindors. First class was Herbology, and they gathered their books and started for it once the bell rang, talking quietly among themselves.

"All classes finish at 1 o'clock." said Hermione. "We're in luck. Last class is Transfigurations."

"Yeah, right." muttered Ron. "Never thought I'd say having McGonagall's class is 'lucky'."

They had hung back a little, and just as they were going to enter through the door, Neville whispered, "Tony!"

The other three turned back towards the ground. Tony was standing a foot away from his brother, the latter of whose eyes were slightly wide. No one else was now out in the open. Everyone had already gone inside the greenhouse.

"Aren't you happy to see me, brother?" Tony asked, his lips curled into a smirk but eyes as serious as they had ever seen. "You look like you've seen a _ghost_."

Vergil's eyes became hard.

"Ghosts are no longer an unnatural sight to me, brother, but I must admit I am surprised."

"Because ghosts _stay _dead, and you can't say that for me, right?" Tony scoffed. "You made a mistake, Verge. Not destroying my broom," Harry and Ron exchanged a look, "Your mistake was _leaving_ me. Not that you should've stayed and helped, but you should've made sure I'm really _dead_!"

Tony stared hard at his brother for another moment before moving away, fists clenched at his sides. It was only then that he saw the pale faces of the four Gryffindors. He paused for a moment, swallowed.

"Tony…?" Hermione choked out, eyes shining. "You-"

Tony pushed past them, nearly knocking off Ron, and made a beeline for the tables arranged for lesson inside the greenhouse. Taking up place beside Seamus Finnigan, he looked down at the wooden surface, breathing hard, hands curled into fists and shoulders slightly shaking, as if he was holding back sobs. There was a slight limp in his step, and his right sleeve was a bit tighter than his left, as if he was wearing something underneath- a bandage, most likely.

The small group stood in stunned silence for a moment before slowly filing inside in complete silence.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"His brother….you don't think he actually tried to…._kill _him, do you?" Ron whispered to Harry as they separated purple seeds from blue ones.

"You know, I think he did, Ron." Harry murmured back.

Ron surveyed Vergil with wide eyes. "And to think, I thought having Percy as a brother was the worst thing that could happen to someone….I'm going to buy him a chocolate frog on the way home."

A small cry from Professor Sprout caused them to look up.

"Careful, Miss Granger!" she exclaimed, looking down at Hermione's shattered glass bowl.

"Sorry, professor." Hermione said in a quiet voice, bending down to pick up the seeds.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

As soon as class was over, Dante moved through the queue to fall in step beside Hermione.

"After classes end," he said in a low voice. "Meet me outside. And bring these three." He knew it was better to get on with the interrogation.

"You don't have to talk if you, you know, feel too uncomfortable." piped up Neville. Hermione nodded quickly.

"No, it's alright." Dante shrugged, walking off as casually as he could. His healing vertebrates were still hurting him, but he was determined not to let that show. What was hurting him the most was, fortunately, invisible to everyone: A deep ache in his chest that seemed to grow more and more prominent. He tried to brush it off, Vergil wasn't worth it, but the more he tried, like a raw itch, the more it hurt.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Ten questions allowed." Dante said to the others, leaning back against a tree in a casual way.

"Only ten?" said Neville.

Dante held up a finger. "Nine."

"Oh." Neville shut his mouth. It was after lunch, and they were sitting by the lake, practically buried in warm sweaters and mufflers.

"He actually tried to kill you?" the question came tumbling out of Ron's mouth.

"I don't think so." said Dante, and he was pleased to find he meant it. "I was a bit too excited earlier to see him, I guess. He probably just wanted to shake me up a bit. Anyway, eight. Next question?"

"What really happened?" it was Harry.

Dante sighed. "Well, we wanted to finish our fight, so we picked a spot over the Forbidden Forest-"

"What do you mean over?"

"Six. We fought on broomsticks."

Ron's mouth fell open. "On? You mean you fought, with swords, on a broomstick? How can you hold a sword if you're holding a broom?"

Dante grinned. "Three." Ron groaned.

"We didn't really grab the broom….we just, you know, used our toes to direct it. That left our hands free." Dante really was enjoying the bragging, and the reaction it brought from his listeners. And he didn't even need to say anything more than the truth!

"Impossible." said Ron.

Dante smirked. "Come now, how much skill can you really see in a flying lesson?"

"I've been following internationals for-"

"Later, Ron." Harry said. "Then what?"

The smile slipped off Dante's face. "We fought for a few minutes, but he won and disarmed me. Then he destroyed my broom with some kind of spell. I later heard it was only used for breaking things. The word he muttered, I think it was 'reducto'."

Hermione's eyes were the size of footballs. "Then he really meant to throw you off!" she cried. "From that high up….I can't believe it…."

"Neither could I." Dante said grimly. "It's a handy spell though, teach me sometimes." he added to lighten the mood. It didn't seem to have worked. "Anyway, I fell down, was knocked out. Hagrid found me later. Dumbledore said he wouldn't tolerate any more disobedience from me, meaning I'll be expelled if I want a rematch."

"But you don't want a rematch." Neville said in a small voice. "Right, Tony?"

"I don't know." Dante confessed. "Not that I can, anyway; they took my sword and said they're going to take Vergil's too."

"That's a very good idea." Hermione declared. "You shouldn't be carrying swords in a school anyway."

Dante rolled his eyes. "Swords aren't any more dangerous than Neville with a wand."

Neville blushed. Dante clapped him on the shoulder. "I'm kidding!"

"Well," Ron said after a moment of silence, "You gotta prove to us that you're not lying."

Dante adopted an indignant expression, which, after seeing everyone's unconvinced looks, soon morphed into a smile.

"Fair point." he said. "I'll show you guys someday. Just make sure no Heads of Houses are nearby this time." He winked at Harry. "Oh, by the way, nine questions are done already. Hermione, go next."

"Where have you been all this time?"

"Hagrid's hut."

"But….Why? Why not the hospital wing?"

"No questions left." Dante grinned again. "Too bad."

That was the turning point in their relationship though. Dante started to fit in quite easily with Harry and his redhead friend while still keeping up his closer friendship with Hermione. Ron had effectively shaken off any doubts he had about Tony Redgrave, and the four of them became inseparable.

**Who knew what that blue and white face was? I'm pretty sure a lot of you managed to guess, of course! It's not hard, after all.**

**Reply to unsigned reviews:**

Crossover Junkie: Glad you liked the spell! And as for the troll scene, well, we all know Dante simply can't resist picking fights with big, scary monsters. You said you 'have not reviewed in a while.' I'm a bit confused…because I don't see your name 'Crossover Junkie' in either the signed or the unsigned reviews before now. Are you under another username in ffn? Thanks for the review.

Hobbit: Thank you for your kind words! Here's a chapter to compensate for the wait…hopefully.

qwertyuip: I'm so sorry I didn't reply to your review of the last chapter. I had a good laugh out of a particular review of yours…I'm sure you can guess which one *winks*. The word 'perfect' was a great compliment. And you were right about Vergil's chances. One can only wonder how you managed to be so accurate in your prediction…I believe Dante loses against Vergil whenever he's just looking for fun…too! I really hope I'm getting the characters right. Let's see what you make of this chapter!


	7. Christmas!

**Thanks to VFran, Coreldecortavar, Ethan Demas for favoriting and Skalgar and Broadside Ginger for following!**

**Wow, nine reviews for last chapter! Keep them coming! I know I'm late, but what can I say, studying and exams are just one of the many joys of real life. And I know this chapter is the shortest so far, but the next one should be the longest, I think. I just had to end the chapter in a place where it seemed fitting.**

**On another note: I noticed the numbers of favorites and follows decreasing by 1 from time to time. I'm pretty sure if anyone's tempted to do this, they have a good reason. If you want to, then you've got every right, but I'd appreciate it- truly- if you let me know what's bothering you before you unfollow or unfavorite. That's all.**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue.**

**Where we left off:**

_That was the turning point in their relationship though. Dante started to fit in quite easily with Harry and his redhead friend while still keeping up his closer friendship with Hermione. Ron had effectively shaken off any doubts he had about Tony Redgrave, and the four of them became inseparable._

**Here we go!**

Chapter 7

Mid-December found Hogwarts covered in snow. The small group consisting of Dante, Harry, Ron and Hermione was frequently in the library now, searching through stacks of books to find information on Nicolas Flamel. At least, three of them were, as Dante spent most of the times looking longingly at the restricted section.

"Maybe they have something." He said in response to Hermione's frown.

"If they do, we have no way of reaching them." she told him. "Madam Pince is always stalking about…."

"Time to close it up!" came the order.

"Speak of the devil." muttered Ron, standing up with two books draped over an arm.

Hermione balanced five large tomes in her arms as she rose. "I guess we can't stay up late tonight," she said quietly. "It's Potions first thing in the morning."

"Yeah, yeah, like we could forget with all the homework." Dante grumbled.

At the bottom of the stairs leading to the separate dormitories, Harry said, "You know, you never showed us your skill with a broom."

Dante scratched his head. "Christmas treat." he said finally with a grin. "You're staying, right?"

"Mom and Dad are away visiting Charlie." said Ron. "I'll be here."

"Me too, obviously." said Harry.

"But I can't." Hermione added. Dante smirked.

"Bad luck, 'Mione." he said. "I'm not going to risk getting on the team for you; I'm not showing you guys till we get the grounds all to ourselves. I checked, not one Slytherin except Verge is staying, and-" his smirk widened into a grin, "-he'll be cooped up in the dungeon coz he think celebrations are childish."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"It's a good thing you and Vergil are so resistant to cold." Hermione said to Dante as they made their way into the dungeons for Double Potions, remembering the two brothers were often out in the snow without much warm clothes on. "The Slytherin common room must be freezing."

"I hope so." said Dante, grimly.

Except for Malfoy's jabbing, the potions class went pretty well. As they walked out into the corridor, they found a large Chirstmas tree blocking their way. Hagrid was working on it.

"Hey, Hagrid," said Ron, "Want any help?"

"Nah," said Hagrid, "I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoy's voice from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose- that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."

Ron was going to dive at Malfoy when Dante grabbed him from behind, having a feeling he'd probably pressed too hard because Ron stiffened.

"Hey, relax, Ron, I'm not gonna kiss you, promise." He said with a grin. "But Snape's coming up, so-" he let go as Snape strode into view.

"What's going on here?" the Potions Master asked.

"Just having a little chat, professor." Dante replied innocently. "Malfoy's particularly friendly today, I wonder if that's not due to the fact that he's going to see his father soon, who is of course, really happy that a muggle-born is outshining him in every class."

Ron and Harry suddenly burst into a fit of coughing. Hermione turned to face the wall.

Snape glared at Dante for a moment. "Move along, Mr. Malfoy." He told Malfoy, whose face was flushed.

"-he'll be a real pleasure to have around the whole holiday," Dante continued, "And Draco is very much looking forward to that, right, Draco?"

Malfoy dived at Dante, who sidestepped and gave a wide-eyed look. "Was it something I said?"

"I said, move along." Snape snapped at all of them, striding past.

Malfoy and his two bodyguards glared at Dante for another moment, eyes spitting fire, before stalking off.

The moment they were out of sight, laughter rebounded off the walls.

"Man," Ron wiped a tear from his eyes, "That was _wicked_!"

Still guffawing, Hagrid thumped Dante on the back, the boy wincing a bit. "Sure got 'em there."

Harry straightened from where he was bent over double, Hermione grinning broadly. "Let's go." She said once they were composed. "We got to go to the library, there's still a half hour before lunch."

"Work?" asked Hagrid. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

So they told him about searching for Nicholas Flamel. Hagrid flatly refused to help.

"Just have to find out for ourselves then," said Ron, and off they went to the library.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Tony was again staring at the restricted section. Harry eyed him for a moment and then stood up, his eyes fixed on the books lining the shelves in the isolated section.

"You're going?" Tony asked.

"Just let me take a look there." Harry said. "There might be something…"

He and Tony were searching for, well, they weren't sure what- when Madam Pince came in.

"What are you looking for, boys?"

Harry opened his mouth, but Tony beat him to it. "Demons."

Madam Pince stared at Tony. Harry held his breath; she was probably going to explode at him over suggesting something so outrageous…

"What about them?" she asked finally.

"I was wondering- um, if there's a book on The Dark Knight….I wanted to learn more about him…the fight with Mundus sounded interesting."

Harry fought to keep his jaw from slackening. _What's he going on about? _Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ron and Hermione also straighten.

Madam Pince was actually eying Tony with a bit of respect. "There are a few…" she said slowly, "But you need signed authorization from one of the teachers to look in them."

Tony nodded quickly. "Yeah. Okay."

As soon as the librarian left, Hermione pounced on Tony. "Demons? They exist? And who's Mundus? Who's the Dark Knight? What fi-"

"Whoa, whoa, chill out, Hermione!" Tony said, grimacing.

"Demons exist, I knew that already." said Ron. "Not a pleasant lot, from what I hear. But…what's all this talk about Muntus and stuff?"

Tony shrugged. "Well, Hermione, as Ron said, demons exist…and Mundus is the Emperor of all demons, and the Dark Knight is…." He paused for a moment. "Um…he's a demon who fought against other demons for humans, some 2000 years ago."

"Blimey." breathed Ron. "You know a piece of history Hermione doesn't?"

Tony chuckled. "Looks that way….oh no, you don't, Hermione!" She had a look on her face that suggested she was going to change that very soon.

"Either way," said Harry. "Good thinking there."

"And I'm going to look up Mundus sometimes," Hermione added, ignoring the horrified look on Tony's face. "You can never learn too much…"

"That was before you came into existence." Ron muttered under his breath.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Hermione left the next day, along with all the other students going home for the Christmas break, with a reminder to keep looking for Nicholas Flamel.

"Ah, sure…" Dante said, and then bit his lip, almost nervously, "Hey, 'Mione, can you send me something? As soon as you reach your house, would you? I don't want that for Christmas present."

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Well…um…I'll all out of shampoo, sun-tan lotion and cologne. I'll write you the brand, it can't be any other."

All three burst out laughing. Dante actually blushed a bit. "Yeah, go on, laugh." He said grumpily. "Who knows what's so funny about wanting to look presentable. And being tasteful."

They only laughed harder.

Dante scowled. "You sending or not?"

"Yeah, I will." Hermione gasped out. "As soon as I can."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Harry, Ron and Dante were having a great time together. The dormitory was really comfortable, so they spent most of the times stretching in front of the fire. Outside it was heavily snowing, so going out was rather out of the question. Despite that, when Harry and Ron were inside the common room, Dante sometimes went out and played on the frozen lake. It was really fun to slide from one side to the other, in his opinion. He knew he wouldn't get sick, he never did.

Ron was teaching the other two how to play wizard chess. Harry was always losing to Ron, but he always cheered up after playing Dante, who finally threw his hands up after the knight kicked his fingers after the fifth consecutive loss.

"This is impossible!" he grumbled, as Harry and Ron doubled over laughing at the knight's antics. "Not my game." He muttered sourly, moving aside. "You two go ahead. I got something I need to do."

A brown owl flew in, and something dropped in Dante's lap.

"Your cosmetics are here." Harry grinned. Dante tucked the packet inside his robe.

"I'll open it later." he said, looking around to see if anyone had seen. The Weasley twins were eying the package with interest, but none of them could actually see through the packet. Or at least, that was what Dante hoped.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

On the day of Christmas, Dante woke to Harry and Ron's snoring and three packages lying by his bed.

Dante opened the red and gold package first, still wondering who the three senders could be.

It was from Hermione, a packet full of Strawberry Sundaes, a charm placed inside to keep it frozen. Dante grinned, his spirits instantly lifted. "Mione, sometimes I feel like I could kiss you!"

The second one was Hagrid's homemade cake. Dante pushed that away. He could actually eat it without getting his teeth broken, but not without making his mouth sore. Unfortunately, his finishing a whole slice at Hagrid's convinced the gatekeeper that Dante loved it.

The third was a very small packet wrapped in vibrant, deep red papers. It was his favorite and signature color.

"What can this be…?" Dante whispered, tearing through the wrappings. His mouth fell open once he saw what was inside.

A silver chain attached to a locket with a red stone. There was a note:

_Your mother left these in my possession before she died. It is time I return them to their rightful owners. Use it well.(1) _

There was no mistaking who could've sent it. Dante felt tears stinging his eyes as he lifted the half-amulet to his chest. He could imagine Vergil doing the same thing downstairs in the dungeons. He read the names on the back of the locket.

_Vergil and Dante._

"Thanks, Uncle Albus." he said softly.

He undid the clasp and slipped the chain around his neck. He redid the clasp and hid the locket inside his nightshirt. The weight settled against his chest, just over his heart, reassuring yet not heavy. Dante shut his eyes for a moment, just losing himself in memories. Then he opened his eyes and grinned devilishly, and left for the owlery. _I have a gift to send a certain someone…_

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

When he came back to the Great Hall, Harry and Ron were already there. The Weasleys were surrounding them, wearing handmade sweaters, the twins with F and G and Percy with a P on their own. Harry also had one. Dante grinned at seeing Ron's color, it was maroon. A color he had heard Ron say he hated on more than one occasion.

"What?" Ron asked grumpily. "Something funny?"

"Nope." smirked Dante. "It's nothing_. _Though a bit lighter would've suited you better. Pink."

Fred and George Weasley grinned as Ron sputtered. "Ah, does ickle-"

"SHUT UP!" Ron yelled.

"Can we take the Hufflepuff table?" Dante asked them, growing serious. "It's only us in here, changes would be nice. I would've said Slytherin table, but Snape will throw a fit."

"Sure, sure." Fred cut in. "Don't worry about it."

Dante smiled gratefully, before it turned mischievous. "He's gonna throw a fit anyway, though."

Fred and George were instantly on alert. "What did you-"

An owl came in through the window, hooting as it reached the teachers' table, dropping a parcel right into Snape's lap.

They waited with bated breath.

Snape frowned at the box, before performing some kind of spell on it.

"Oh, go on, Severus!" Flitwick cried. "It's so good to see you finally getting presents!"

All teachers were now looking at him. Snape opened it, and held up two bottles, examining them with a frown. The frown morphed into a scowl before finally his eyes blazed and he leapt to his feet.

"Who did this?" he whispered in a dangerous voice, his eyes roaming over the students. "Who was it?"

"What is it, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape shoved the bottles in his face. "Look at this!"

Dumbledore stared at the bottle, before he laughed merrily. "Why, this is a very thoughtful gift, Severus!" he held up the bottles, still chuckling. "A shampoo- very good brand, too- and a sun-tan lotion."

Laughter erupted. Percy was the only one to have a scowl on his face, but no one cared. The Weasley twins were giving Dante looks of shining admiration, but they couldn't speak through their laughter.

"So that's what they were for!" Ron gasped out, managing to keep his voice low. "Oh…if Hermione could see…"

Dante himself was laughing too hard to speak. Snape's eyes were shooting daggers at him, clearly he had figured out who had the nerve to do something like this. But taking points or giving detentions were forbidden in Christmas.

"You're welcome to take part in the Weasley Wizards Wheezes!" Fred whispered once he had gotten his laughter under control.

"You would make a wonderful addition!" George added.

"WWW? What's that?"

Fred made a show of fainting. "You don't know what Weasley Wizards Wheezes is?"

"But seeing what you just did-" George began.

"I suppose you can be forgiven this once-" Fred picked up.

"We'll have to educate you, of course." George finished.

And they launched into a description of their future shop. Dante couldn't help grinning as he listened, digging into his Strawberry Sundae.

Snape left the table soon after, and Quirrell was also going to when his parcel came.

Flitwick leaned over eagerly. "Maybe this one will be better!"

Quirrell stood, going a bit pale. "I-I'll just t-take it into m-my office."

"Go on, professor!" said Hagrid. "Can't be too bad."

With shaking hands, the young professor opened the parcel.

It was cologne. Quirrell took a look at it, passed it to the Headmaster, and hurried off, amidst another round of laughter from the students.

"Mango scent over garlic any day of the week." Dumbledore read the small parchment, eyes twinkling merrily. "And I must say, I agree."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

After finishing, Fred and George happily took Percy away, Harry and Ron taking their broomsticks and following Tony out into the Quidditch practice field.

Tony grinned as he mounted the broomstick. "Look who's here!"

It was Ron's other three brothers, also getting on their brooms. It seemed Fred and George had somehow bullied Percy into agreeing to play, and Professor McGonagall had agreed to lend them the Quidditch set.

Team was set up with one keeper, one chaser and one seeker. Fred and George played chaser of opposite teams, it was difficult to tell apart so they had to wear the sweaters to convince the others, and Ron and Percy played keeper. Harry and Tony were seekers.

Team divided quickly, Fred, Ron, Harry; George, Percy, Tony.

"Who's refereeing?" Harry asked.

"Screw rules." Tony smirked. "All's fair in love and war!"

Percy put a spell on the ball to set off at the fixed time, before taking up position. Once the Quaffle was out, George put two fingers in his mouth and blew, shooting off.

George and Fred were fighting it out with the Quaffle a minute later when something shot past them. It was Tony, Harry hot on his heels.

"How's he going that fast?" Ron cried. "That's a freakin' Cleansweep 5!"

A shout from under them caught their attention. Tony had the snitch, laughing at Harry's sour look.

At first they had thought the first one was a onetime, but after a total of five times, all of which ended with Tony grabbing the snitch, they had to give it to Tony: he had every right to brag.

"You should be on the team!" Percy declared.

"Go sit this one out." said Ron. "It's not fair to us: you're like two players!"

Harry had a determined look on his face. "Give me another chance, Ron." he was going to prove that he _could _win against Tony.

And he did. He caught the snitch moments before Tony, smiling as Ron flew over to congratulate him.

"So it's five to one." said Tony sourly. "Nothing to-"

"Don't be a spoilsport, Tony!" Percy chided him, electing raised eyebrows from everyone.

"Oh, don't you worry, Tony-" Fred said in his best mimicry of his mother's voice.

"I've seen bigger spoilsports-" said George.

"Racing Charlie with a broom last year-"

"Until his prefect badge from Hogwarts came-"

"And then yelling at Charlie to quit the racket-"

Tony was laughing by then, but suddenly he turned grave, looking over the school grounds.

"Be right back." He said distractedly, flying off.

George squinted to see the black dot some hundred meters away. "Is that- Vergil?"

"Maybe he's going to join us?" Fred suggested hopefully.

"Fat chance!" Harry and Ron said at the same time.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

.Dante tried to ignore the voice in his head that was warning him against what he was about to do as he flew off towards Vergil, landing a few feet away from him. Vergil, who was casually sitting on the snow as if it was stone, gave him an inquiring look.

Dante hesitated a bit before calling, "Verge, come and join us!" Vergil's cold demeanor had not fooled him one bit; his brother was missing how they had once celebrated Christmas. That was something that had plagued Dante's mind since he had woken up; not even Hogwarts' beautiful decorations and wonderful treats could outshine what they had back in their home. Back when they still _had _a home_._

He wanted to enjoy at least some of it while he still could. He didn't know if Vergil had enough human in him for something like that, but he hoped so.

"Go back to your childish rackets." Vergil told him coldly, standing to walk away.

Hopes dashed, Dante glared at his brother's back for a moment. _If I had a weapon…oh wait, I do!_

Vergil wheeled about as the cold snow hit the side of his face, splattering snow in his already white hair.

Dante grinned at him. "This isn't a childish game, Verge." He stated, calmly forming another snowball. "This is war!"

He was half afraid Vergil wouldn't respond, but a smirk crossed his brother's face.

"Since our swords are indisposed-" he suddenly flung his hand up from where he had subtly buried it in the snow, sending the snow in a parabolic curve right into Dante's face. "-I guess this'll have to do."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The other Gryffindors joined them soon after.

"Who is who?" Percy asked blankly.

Harry and Ron were observing the two with narrowed eyes. As one of them shoved the other headfirst into the snow and the victim flung his legs up to throw his attacker off him, scowling as he stood, Harry pointed at the one who had shoved the other and now lay sprawled on the snow, brushing off snowflakes.

"That's Tony!" he announced confidently. "Only he-"

He was cut off by a snowball inside his throat. "Identification." Tony explained with a grin. "You're right, only I-" the white-haired boy was nearly thrown down by another snowball.

"Play fair, Verge!" he complained.

"What was the hu-"

"Damn it, Vergil-"

"Muggle saying? All's fair in-"

"I get it, I get it!"

Ron guffawed as Tony's previous jab was deflected back at him.

"-But it wasn't me." Vergil finished. It seemed Fred and George were charming the snowballs. One hit Percy on his glasses, and the prefect forgot all dignity and pounced on his brother, pushing him to the ground by his flaming red hair.

"That-was-Fred…." said the boy thickly.

"And let me guess, you're George?" Percy yelled. "You might get away with that with Mom, but you're not getting away with me!" He dragged his brother up, and froze as he saw the letter on the sweater, 'G'.

Before Percy could apologize, Ron used his shoulder to hide from Harry's projectile, and Percy was again wiping his face off while sending a death glare at Harry, scooping up a handful of snow that soon sat in Harry's hair, in sharp contrast to the thick mop of black.

The last straw was when Tony pushed Ron in front of him to make Vergil's snowball hit the redhead. Then it was all-out war.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Vergil and Tony were last ones standing.

However, instead of fighting it out between them, the twins high-fived each other and said triumphantly, "Jackpot!"

Harry stared in amazement at them, and felt his face splitting into a grin that he could see matched Ron's.

Yes, it definitely was turning out to be his best Christmas ever.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

As they were retiring to their common room, Harry asked Tony quietly, "So things are sorted out?"

Tony shook his head with a smile. "No." he replied seriously. "Next morning we'll be back to enemies. That was for old times' sake."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

So it proved.

Next morning, there was no sign of Vergil anywhere in the Great Hall. Not that Dante was in a position to care, occupied as he was by the ongoing topic.

"An invisibility cloak?! Tell me you're not kidding." He hissed.

"I'm not kidding." Harry muttered just as softly. "Someone gave a note with the cloak. Says they knew my father. No address, nothing. Just says, 'Use it well'."

Dante could see the resemblance between the note he had gotten and the one of his friend. The cloak had to come from Dumbledore. But he decided not to tell Harry and Ron that. Dumbledore would've told them if he had seen it fit to.

"All right, Hermione can figure it out." he said. "So you went exploring?"

"Yeah. Then I sort of ran into this mirror in an empty classroom. It showed my parents! They were there, right beside me! Along with my whole family!"

Some unidentifiable feeling passed through Dante's blood, making him shiver. "You think it shows one's family?"

"Maybe." said Harry. "What else can it be?"

"I want to see your parents!" Ron said excitedly. "And I can show you all my family."

Dante fidgeted a bit. "How far back do they show?" he murmured.

Harry and Ron frowned at him. "Um…" said Harry. "Maybe back to your grandparents."

Dante winced. "Um…"

But the desire to see his parents again won over. "I'm going then." he said. "Midnight?"

The three shared a grin. "Midnight."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Severus Snape was going out for his patrolling of the corridors when the note caught his eye again from where it was still sitting on his desk. The note that had come tied to an owl's leg after yesterday's Christmas dinner.

He couldn't help but rest his gaze on it a second longer than necessary before crumpling up the paper and tossing it into the roaring fire. The words swam to the forefront of his mind as he turned to walk outside.

_Sir,_

_If I'd humiliated you in the Great Hall, know that it was wholly intentional and that was exactly what I was going for. Whoa, don't crumple it all up before I finish. I wanted to say thanks for…you know, taking me down to the hospital wing that day, the potions you gave me after THAT night, and for what happened during the Quidditch match. Harry certainly isn't going to thank you for that, but then, he doesn't exactly know, right?_

_This is your real Christmas present. If you like it, good, if you don't like it, leave the complaints in my complaint box: Neville Longbottom's Potions Cauldron, the one that gets an Evanesco every class._

_Very sincerely,_

_Tony Redgrave_

_P.S: If you're wondering how I managed to get a hold of these, I used Uncle Albus's floo when he wasn't there. Nope, I don't think he knows, but you never know. It's Uncle Albus, after all._

The attachment was a small packet that, upon opening, had revealed thick black gloves exactly the right size.

Severus's old gloves had caught fire in an experiment a few days back. He had not imagined anyone except Dumbledore had noticed his uncovered hands.

Putting on the gloves, he hesitated for a moment before reassuring himself that there should be no way for Redgrave to see that his present was being accepted. Not with the clock showing nearly 12:13 a.m.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante stared at the mirror in disbelief. He felt like he couldn't breathe. A thousand emotions ran through his mind, coming together in a kind of mixed exhilaration and overwhelming loneliness.

Not only were his parents there, but Vergil was there, as well. The Vergil he wanted to get back. He himself was exactly as he was now. Vergil was nearly the same, only with his hair pushed back. The two were grinning, as if posing for a photograph; their swords held loosely in one hand, the tips crossed near the floor. Eva was standing behind, slightly bent over in order to maintain the same height as her smaller sons. Her long, golden hair was loose, her arms wrapped lovingly around her sons' necks from behind. The free hands of Dante and Vergil covered their mother's. Eva's face was between their shoulders, and they both had their heads slightly tilted to rest against their mother's cheeks. Her smile was radiant. Sparda was beside Eva, one hand loosely at his wife's back while the other grasped the hilt of his own sword. He was smiling proudly and lovingly down at his family.

Without even realizing it, Dante had lifted his hand to touch his mother's face. The sudden feeling of cool glass made him draw back his hand as if burnt.

"Hey, Tony! You've had your turn, let me see!"

Ron's voice was the final straw, and suddenly Dante felt white-hot rage surging through him, warming him up to the tips of his fingers and toes. This mirror was showing him things he could never have, but wanted above everything in the world. It was vile, it was twisted….this thing had no right to play with his emotions that way!

He wasn't aware that he had raised his hand again until his hand made contact with…fabric. A soft 'oomph' sound made him realize what had happened. His arms shot out, to catch Harry Potter by the shoulders as his friend was about to fall to the floor, who was even now wheezing and trying to curl in on himself.

Harry must have had seen him raise his fist and jumped in front of the mirror to protect it and thus have a chance to see his parents again.

"Shit, Harry." Dante breathed, now praying….yes, praying! -that he had the good sense to hold back on his punch. "You okay? Who am I kidding, 'course you're not. Jeez, I'm sorry. I don't know what came ov-"

"It's fine." Harry gasped out, still clutching his stomach and wincing in pain. Dante was a bit pleased that he had not caught Harry in the chest, or he would've had bruised bones at the very least. "I'm fine, just…give me a minute."

Dante bit at his lip as he gently lowered Harry to a sitting position on the floor. He took a step back as Ron took his place by Harry. He was staring at Dante with a mixture of awe and horror.

"Blimey, what were you going for, smashing Vergil's head?"

Dante let out a choked laugh. "Would've aimed higher then." He pointed out.

"Right."

"But I'm not going in front of this thing. Ever. And maybe, neither should you."

Ron glared. "What are you, Hermione?"

Dante made a face, and spread his arms. "Do you see anything in common?" more seriously, he continued, "I just got a bad feeling about this." He crouched to help Harry up, throwing one of the brunette's arms across his shoulders. He supported Harry's weight with ease, "It's deceptive. I don't like deception. I go for straight and fair."

Ron frowned. "Just let me look in there for a bit."

"And there's nothing wrong with the mirror, Tony." Harry added, looking defensive. "It doesn't hurt or curse, so what's the problem?"

Dante let go of Harry, who looked steady on his feet again. He shrugged. "I don't know. But I don't like this."

"Maybe because Vergil is in there." Ron grinned.

Dante laughed lightly, feeling more at ease. "Maybe. He's a sight for sore eyes."

All three laughed this time. But true to his words, Dante didn't look in the mirror again. He simply stood around for some minutes, and then went to sit on a bench. He swung his legs, and started.

Someone had been here. The imprint on the dust where a man had sat on the wood was clear.

"We gotta go." Dante called.

"Why?" asked Harry, distracted as he pushed Ron aside and stared at the mirror.

"Someone's been here just hours ago. Someone else comes here. We need to go."

"Just a mom-"

"Come on, Harry!" Ron cried, tugging his friend's sleeve. And so, within a few moments, they were out of the room.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Next morning, even Ron had joined in with Dante. The two tried to convince Harry, but he was unmovable.

"Then I'm going too." said Dante.

"Seriously, Tony?" Harry grinned at him. "I'm not a chick and you're not a mother hen, you know."

Dante shot a mock-glare at him.

"Okay, fine!" said Harry. "I won't go." And they left it at that.

The next morning, Dante witnessed a dramatic change. Harry completely avoided any topic of the mirror, and his invisibility cloak was locked away in his trunk.

It didn't take a genius to realize Harry had gone to see the mirror the previous night. Something must've had gone wrong. Dante went round after lunchtime. The mirror was gone.

He exhaled loudly; feeling like a huge burden had been lifted. "Good riddance."

**1: No, Eva never really gave them the amulet. In here, she realized the significance of the amulet and gave it to Dumbledore for safekeeping until her sons were old enough to accept the responsibility.**

**Reply to unsigned reviews:**

Hobbit: Thank you! Yep, Hermione is obviously going to be more alert! Good to know the fight was in character. That's the thing I probably value most.

Crossover Junkie: Oh, no problem. I just got a bit confused. I think Snape's a sort of good guy who's really mean, but he's really not a bad guy and has his morales mostly straight. The bullyings are inexcusable, but I always feel like cheering when he mocks even feared people like Bella. And as for Hermione and Dante, I think it makes sense because Dante's best friends are always girls in the series and they're pretty bossy, just like Hermione, and they start off the friendships with a fight.

qwertyuiop: Thank you, thank you! You're awesome! I've never been prouder to make someone's eyes water.

Guest: Yep, Devil Trigger. Congratulations!

**It's after 3 a.m. now. *yawns* until Wednesday, then! Please don't forget to review!**


	8. Revelations: Good and bad

**Thanks to Nahliel Michelangelo Sparda and andy2396 for favoriting and again Nahliel Michelangelo Sparda, andy2396 and Kamen Rider Ebon for following!**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue.**

**Where we left off:**

_The next morning, Dante witnessed a dramatic change. Harry completely avoided any topic of the mirror, and his invisibility cloak was locked away in his trunk._

_It didn't take a genius to realize Harry had gone to see the mirror the previous night. Something must've had gone wrong. Dante went round after lunchtime. The mirror was gone._

_He exhaled loudly; feeling like a huge burden had been lifted. "Good riddance."_

**Here we go!**

Chapter 7

The last few days of the vacation passed by rather uneventfully, and soon students were all clamoring in the corridors and in the common room and the classrooms. Dante noticed Hermione eyeing him often when she thought he wasn't looking. He considered the probability of a crush and dismissed it. Heaven knew why people did that thing, but Hermione wouldn't go for that, of course.

The alternative was that she was suspecting something. Dante couldn't for the life of him figure out what; until one night in the common room. Harry and Ron had gone off to the dormitory, rubbing at their eyes, but Hermione and Dante stayed in, bent over their potion essays. That was one thing Dante never missed, and he shuddered to think what would happen if Snape caught him copying one sentence from Hermione's essay. So he had to do them on his own. Hermione was mighty proud of him though. She had pointed him out as sort of an ideal to Ron and Harry many times. Fortunately they knew Dante too well to be bothered by it, and in fact shared secret smirks with the boy every time she did that.

Barely a moment had passed after Ron and Harry left before Hermione looked up and said softly, "Tony, what's Sparda doing in page 35 of _Angels and Demons_?"

Dante just managed to keep himself from jumping a foot in the air. "Wha….oh, that." He swallowed. "Yeah, he's a great legend, isn't he? Bringing Mundus down like that. 2000 years ago, wasn't it?"

Hermione continued eyeing him, now with _very_ narrowed eyes.

Dante mimicked her, crossing his arms over his chest. "What?" he snapped.

"Vergil Sparda." she said,.

Dante's heart was pounding. Trying desperately to act normal, he shrugged. "Vergil's a fan. You don't think we're some great-great grandchild of that demon?" he wrinkled his nose as if Sparda's name was associated with some odor. Which was frankly ridiculous, in his opinion; Eva always picked out the best deodorants for her husband. "Mum always talked about him, so…Vergil looks up to him. He wants to be like him." He was proud to see he didn't speak a single lie.

She was wavering already. "How does your mum know about him? Demons aren't a popular subject."

Dante spread his arms. "You're talking about my mum here, Hermione! She's never been one for popularity. Always loved changes, went in for the sort of things nobody else would. Where do you think I got my rebellious streak from? Just check her school records and I'll bet you'll come up with a couple of dozen incidents. Look up Eva-" he clamped down. _Stupid! Stupid! What if she finds out who my mum married?_

"Yes?" Hermione prompted.

"Nothing." Dante shook his head. "Nothing."

"Your mother's surname…?"

"It's kinda hard." Dante winced at his own excuse. "Probably Addlestone."

Hermione simply stared at him.

Face flaming red, Dante stood up. "Hey, look, I'm done in. Later, okay?" with that, he all but ran off to the boys' dormitory, kicking himself mentally over and over. Hermione simply gazed after him with a puzzled look.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

She breached the subject with Ron and Harry later, adding Tony's reactions for good measure.

Ron blew it off. "2000 years? Oh, go on, Hermione! Sparda's a demon, Tony… I don't know, doesn't exactly look like a demon."

Hermione stared at him. "Think about all the evidence, Ron! Remember that day in Hagrid's hut? He picked Fang up and carried him like he didn't weigh more than a pound!"

"That doesn't make him a demon!" Ron wrinkled his nose and Hermione was strongly reminded of Tony's expression. "Demons are supposed to look hideous. Besides, we saw his mum's photo. She's stunning, and NOT a demon."

"How would you know?" Hermione challenged.

Ron gestured helplessly. "She's gorgeous, Hermione!"

"Some demons have human forms." Hermione said, in full lecture mood. "Besides, Sparda sacrificed his home for humans. He turned against his Emperor and sealed him away in the Underworld. Is it truly such a wonder, Ron, that a woman might fall in love with him without caring about his appearances?"

Ron grimaced. "Mental, I told you." he muttered to Harry.

Harry didn't want to think about what they were saying. Tony was a friend, and he couldn't bear to lose him to what sounded very much like distrust and prejudice. He lifted a shoulder. "Well, if Tony is a demon, he's a good demon-"

"And doesn't that sound perfectly sane." Ron said under his breath.

"A good one, and please can't we leave it at that?"

Hermione frowned. "Um, Harry-"

"Hey, guys!" Tony called, marching inside, stuffing a handful of chocolate frog in his mouth. He looked profoundly excited, swinging his chocolate card in the air. "Look what I got!"

Harry ran over, eager to add to his collection. Tony seemed interested enough whenever a new wizard or witch turned up, but he was simply too lazy to collect so he let Harry have his owns. So did Hermione, though she didn't eat chocolates much; dentist parents, she had reminded them the one time Tony tried to drag her over. She simply scribbled the information into her notebooks concerning the history of all wizards and witches. Harry thought it was bizarre, Ron was betting she was writing an encyclopedia, Tony was convinced it was actually an A to Z 'wizardryonary'.

Harry's face fell a bit on seeing the card. "Oh, it's Merlin." said he, disappointed. "I already got one."

"Loofinereeaackeh!"

"What?" Harry asked, bemused. Hermione looked fairly disgusted.

Tony swallowed before speaking, "Look in the packet!" And he produced another card from within.

Harry skimmed over the card, before letting out an exclamation. "Ron! Hermione! It's Nicholas Flamel!"(1)

Indeed, it was Flamel, a smiling man who didn't look a day over forty.

_Born to Finius and Pamela Flamel, Nicholas Flamel is_

_recognized as one of the finest alchemist in the history_

_of magic. His most notable accomplishment came in the_

_form of the sorcerer's stone, of which he is the only _

_known maker. Nicholas Flamel is happily married _

_to Perenil Flamel, and the couple observed their _

_respectively 665__th__ and 658__th__ birthday the previous month._

"It's the elixir of life!" Hermione squealed. "The stone turns metal to gold and gives people immortality!"

"Merlin's beard." breathed Ron.

"No wonder Snape's after it." said Harry. Tony coughed.

"Harry, we don't really know Snape's doing it."

The three stared at him incredulously. "What?"

Tony raised his hands, palms up. "Hey, I'm just saying. We didn't actually see Snape doing anything-"

"He jinxed Harry's broom!"

"Maybe anti-jinxed it."

"Hermione knocked him down." said Harry defiantly. "And the jinx stopped."

"I knocked over Quirrell." said Tony. "He was muttering too."

He was rewarded with round eyes. "Really?" Ron asked.

"Well, maybe _he_ was anti-jinxing." Harry defended. "There's just too many things against Snape. The Halloween night-"

"Maybe he went to see if the stone's alright?" Tony suggested. Ron suddenly whirled on him.

"That sounds lame, Tony. Why the _hell_ are you defending that git?"

Tony put his hands on his hips. "I'm not-"

"Okay, okay, calm down." Hermione interjected. "We're getting stares."

"Right." They all quickly turned back to their respective tasks, an unspoken agreement signed: they would discuss it later.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

But no such discussion happened. On the contrary, the fact that they couldn't do anything about the stone and that Snape seemed unable to go through the barrier made them lose interest on that topic very quickly.

.

The second Quidditch match passed by in a blur. Harry caught the snitch, and won Gryffindor the match. He overheard Snape threatening Quirrell in the forest that day, but even that was quickly brushed aside, Dante thinking Snape had been telling Quirrell off for trying to get at the stone, the other three thinking Snape had been warning Quirrell not to stand between him and the stone.

Dante kept Vergil updated, just in case he could shed a light on anything. Vergil wasn't very helpful in that regard, but he at least shared Dante's opinion that Quirrell was the culprit.

They had completely different views on the motive, though.

"Seeking power is not unjust." Vergil said firmly. "Without might, you cannot protect anyone."

"But killing someone to get there sure as hell is!" Dante argued. "Flamel's the owner, besides."

"If he cannot safeguard it, then he doesn't deserve it." Vergil replied coldly. It was afternoon; they were back in their secluded spot by the lake, close to the forest.

Dante threw up his hands. "So what, suppose we go down there and pick up the stone it'll be just and fair?"

"Since when do you care about just and fair?" Vergil retorted. "You're the one who hid when-"

Dante slapped his hands over his ears. "I've heard this just about enough times, Vergil, and it doesn't give me the chance to bring her back. I'd die a hundred times over if it means mum would live but that won't happen no matter what I do so DROP IT!"

Several students walking by the lake glanced their way.

"Keep your voice low." Vergil said, but his voice had softened a bit. "That's what I'm saying, Dante. Act before it's too late and you're mourning another loved one you could've saved."

Dante stared at him, horrified. "Merlin, you really want to steal the stone."

Vergil's eyes narrowed. "It's not stealing."

"Yes, it is. You want me to define 'stealing'? Well, when a person's property is-"

"When did our lives ever follow books, Dante?" Vergil cut in, and Dante fell silent.

"Even though we never did anything, you think society will welcome us with open arms if they know what we are? They'll try to kill us. You know that the only reason we're in this school is because no other school would take us. Tell me how _that_'s fair. Our father died for humanity and our mother died to save us. We were children of the savior of the world. We should've been given royalty treatment. What did we get? You, an orphanage with financial issues and no security. Me….I didn't even get that."

Dante sat forward, wanting to know what Vergil had gone through. Before this, his brother had remained tight-lipped about that time, the only response being a snap that it was none of Dante's business.

"I was taken in by a group of merceneries that saw my skill set and decided I was more good to them alive than starved to death. I spent a half year with that rough gang before they were also killed in a demon assault. I spent the next two years on the streets, became a mercenary, wore high boots to cover my height, wore bandages to cover my face and muffle my voice. Where was Dumbledore then? Eating lemon drops in this majestic place. Tell me, Dante, because I'd really like to know, how all _these_ are just." Vergil finished with a ferocious hiss, his eyes burning with rage as they bore into an identical pair.

Dante opened and closed his mouth. What could he say to something like that? No excuse compensated for the sufferings they had both gone through.

"And all I want is to stop this from happening all over again. So, again, are you with me? If not, at least don't get in my way."

Dante shook his head slowly. "What you're saying….it's all wrong. I can't explain why exactly, but I know it's wrong to kill someone."

"Even if said person is 665 years old?" Vergil challenged. "Half of his lifespan and mum would've been with us now! They must've had so much elixir, why did he keep them all to himself? No one deserved life more than Mum did, I flatly refuse to believe _he_ deserves to live that long."

Dante slowly stood. "I'm sorry, Verge." He said. "I'm not with you, and I most certainly will get in your way. Count on that."

He walked away, towards Hagrid's hut. He needed to calm himself. Unlike his friends, his source of comfort wasn't Hagrid. It was his dog.

Fang howled as he entered through the wide-open door. Hagrid must have had gone to his garden, Dante thought, and rocked back on his heels to endure the charge as Fang bounded towards him. Dante caught him by the front two legs and stopped his movements as Fang tried to pounce on his chest and lick at his face. Fang got down on all fours immediately, understanding what Dante was asking. The eleven years old lay down, resting his head on Fang's fur and wrapping his arms around Fang's neck. The dog whined and licked his ear, clearly sensing Dante's distress. Dante buried his face in the furs and let out a shuddering sigh.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked the huge dog. "Hurt my own brother, or stand by and watch him go power-crazy? I know, obvious answer, textbook. Do what's right. It's not so easy in real life, you know. You're real lucky, you know that? Spending all day lying by the cozy fire and playing around with Hagrid. 'Course, you're also really booooring."

Fang made a low growl.

"Oh, don't give me that, it's true." He closed his eyes and snuggled into the dog's side, one arm haphazardly draped over its back. "Now shut up, I'm trying to sleep here."

"'ey, Tony!"

"Oh," Dante waved without shifting. "Hello Hagrid. Goodnight."

He heard Hagrid's bark of laughter, and fell asleep with a small smile on his face.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

He woke to darkness and a curious clicking sound.

"What's that, Hagrid?" he asked sleepily, yawning. Incredibly, Fang was in the exact position he was in when Dante fell asleep. Dante peered at the dog. It was snoring.

_That explains it…_ he untangled himself from the furry thing and sat up, rubbing his eyes. The creature was immediately roused. Fang blinked, sniffed, yawned, and stood to drag himself over to the fireplace and fall asleep again.

The clinking sound stopped. "Oh. Tis jus-"

But Dante had already stood to get a peek. Hagrid was stirring something inside the fireplace. Curious, he rounded Fang to get a better look.

The black thing that rested in the fireplace atop the burning timbers looked like a ball. A huge black ball.

"What's that?"

Hagrid looked around before lowering his voice and saying, "That, my dear lad, 'sa dragon."

"Dragon?" Dante repeated incredulously, stepping to the side when Fang bumped against his leg, shifting to find a comfortable position. He took a closer look. "That's an egg?"

"Yeh."

Dante grinned. "You're brilliant, Hagrid! Where'd you get it?"

"Off a stranger I met down at the pub. Was a sucker at cards. 'e was."

Dante knelt next to the fireplace, staring ravenously at the egg. "How long will this take?"

"Few weeks. I'll let yeh know when it hatches."

"Thanks." He checked his watch. "Goodness, it's getting late, I'm going back." He paused as a thing occurred to him. "Oh, can I tell the others?"

"Jus yer circle o' friends. On'y 'em. No one else can know."

"Forbidden, is it?" Dante clapped Hagrid on the arm, because he really couldn't reach his shoulder. "Way to go, Hagrid! Here, high five."

"Wha'…?"

"Put your hand out like this, come on." Dante held out his right hand, palms up. Hagrid mimicked him. Dante slapped his hand and grinned as he again extended his hand.

"Alright, now hit me. Give me five. Do the same thing, go on."

Hagrid's massive hand came down hard on Dante's.

"Alrigh…sheesh!" Dante hissed in pain. Rubbing his hand, he looked up to see the half-giant's uncertain and guilty expression. He immediately let his hand drop and forced a smile.

"That's good, that's good." He said, lifting his hands up to bring them level with his face. "Up high, high five."

Hagrid broke into a broad smile as he slapped his hands against Dante's.

"Down low."

Hagrid tried to bring his hand down onto Dante's. Dante pulled his back at the last moment, laughing at Hagrid's confused expression. "Too slow!"

Hagrid was slowly beginning to understand. Dante brought up his right hand, Hagrid high-fived with his left. He brought up his left and Dante followed through with his right. He put both hands up and Hagrid managed to hit them. Hagrid lowered his hand, Dante tried to hit it, and Hagrid pulled it back.

Dante laughed. "There you go, you got it!" he gave him a thumb up and patted Fang's head. "See you!" he called as he opened the door.

"See yeh!" Hagrid called, practicing the movements against the wall, looking occupied. Dante had a sudden vision of Hagrid doing the same thing against the broken remains of the same wall next morning.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Where've you been?" Hermione exclaimed. "We couldn't find you anywhere!"

Dante didn't even have the grace to look ashamed. "Can't do without me for one afternoon, huh?" he smirked.

"Of course we can." Hermione sniffed. "Neville was worrying, so…'

"Oh, _Neville_ was worrying. Sure." Dante took his customary seat next to Ron and across from Hermione. "Oh, chicken roast!"

"Tony!"

"Oh, Hagrid's hut. Fell asleep."

"With Fang?!" Ron asked distastefully, looking down at the furs all over his robes.

"So?" Dante blew it off, turning back to his food. He popped the fork in his mouth and started chewing through the meat, hastily closing his mouth when he saw Hermione giving him a rather disgusted look. Then he looked up and saw Hagrid walking into the hall for dinner. He followed him with his eyes, lowering his voice. "Though I found something really interesting in Hagrid's hut."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

When Norbert was finally born, the one most enthusiastic about it was Dante. Sure, Fang was a good dog, but he was boooring. No such problem with Norbert. She was always blowing off things and breaking furniture.

They were lucky, as even though Malfoy had seen the dragon, he had not told anyone yet. Not that it changed the fact that Norbert was simply not suitable to live in a house. They had already written to Charlie to take her away. They knew they couldn't keep the dragon forever, but Hagrid's insistence was enough to give Norbert ten days in Hogwarts.

Dante didn't complain. It was, after all, foolish to think Norbert could stay. The four of them took turns feeding and caring for Norbert. Hagrid loved to think of himself as Norbert's mummy, but Dante simply couldn't see any resemblance. Hagrid was a 'big old softie', as he told Harry one day. Norbert was anything but. Hagrid was constantly trying to give her a constant companion in the form of a teddy bear. Norbert had, as Hagrid meekly put it, 'worn out' about half a dozen already.

Fang was spending his time outside now. Dante felt just a bit bad for the dog, as Hagrid was too busy with Norbert to pet him the way he did before. Hermione, albeit grudgingly, took up the task, taking him out in the garden and around the lake. Ron and Harry were trying to come up with a spoon that'd allow them to feed Norbert from a 20 feet distance. They weren't making much progress.

Between caring for the baby dragon and their studies, they were hardly getting any free time, yet Hermione somehow managed to save time in order to prepare ahead for the upcoming examination.

That was just her, though, and the rest enjoyed the free time they got, and spent that time chatting on the school grounds. Dante was actually on speaking-and-arguing terms with Vergil, and life was as good as it could get.

But like all good things, this peace didn't last. The secret Dante was trying to keep from his friends was blown wide open in the middle of February, in the form of a nine days old Norbert.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

They were all studying in the common room when the owl came in. Ron took the parchment and read it to them:

_Called away to the Headmaster's office. May take a few hours. Watch Norbert._

_Hagrid_

"Tony, are you finished?" Hermione called. "Ron is about done with his essay."

Eager to spend some time with the baby dragon, Dante wrote the last few lines and leapt to his feet. "Let's go, Ron!"

"Coming." Ron grumbled. He was the most unlucky when it came to getting in Nobert's good graces. The dragon seemed to find his fiery hair fascinating and had more than once tried to rip it off. Hagrid was incredibly biased when it came to 'his baby', and had been no help whatsoever. Instead, he had accused the redhead of scaring the beast. Fortunately for Ron, his friends had been nearby at the time and came to his rescue.

Dante was the luckiest. The dragon sensed his demonic aura and was calm most of the time around him. He and Ron evened each other out.

Leaping up the steps that led to the door of the hut, Dante jumped aside as Norbert sent a bottle flying towards them. The plastic bottle bounced off Ron and fell to the floor. Ron yelped and clutched his forehead, and Dante tried to calm the baby dragon.

"Hey, just…" he patted the wings, "Just let me get the bucket, alright?"

He mixed the admittedly disgusting food Hagrid kept for Norbert, and brought it back in time to see Ron trying to pet the dragon awkwardly. Norbert batted his hand away with a wing (Ron looked immensely relieved), and trotted over to Dante and opened her mouth, eager to be fed.

"Hold on." Dante muttered, shuffling for Norbert's makeshift spoon that Hagrid insisted on. He wrinkled his nose at the smell coming from the bucket. "You're revolting, you know that?"

Norbert made a grab for it; Dante pulled out the huge spoon and started feeding her.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Ron frowned as he watched Tony. The boy had no fears, it sometimes seemed. He grinned and murmured to the dragon, throwing in creative insults that Ron was really glad Norbert didn't understand. The redhead tapped his fingers against the table, impatient.

Norbert finished off her food and glanced about. It was about the time when she usually let out a small roar and a few sparks flew out. However, this time it was different.

The baby dragon stomped over to the fireplace and began pacing, growing more and more agitated.

It was unnerving. Moreover, a suspicion was eating away in Ron's mind. "Tony," he began, cautiously, "Let's go. I don't like this."

Tony turned. "What's wrong?"

"That dragon. Maybe it's working up a big fire."

"Oh. Well, there goes the hut." Tony said sarcastically. "We gotta calm the thing down."

"How?"

"Hm…let's see…" he went over to the dragon and stuffed a spoonful of food in her mouth before following it up with a bucket of water.

Ron jumped up. "What are you doing? You're angering it!"

"Trying to make sure it doesn't breathe….OOMPH!"

He had snapped his jaw shut to contain the scream of pain, at the same time Norbert snapped her jaws on Tony's outstretched right arm with all the force she had.

Gasping, Ron ran to them, trying to pull the dragon back, but she held fast. Tony was doubled over his hand.

"Ron…" he hissed. "Grab the lower jaw and keep it in place!"

Ron shuddered but did that, watching in first puzzlement than horror as Tony tried to pry the upper jaw away. But the dragon didn't give in, instead stared with a puzzled look on her face as she actually tugged at the flesh, trying to get it to come off.

Tony let out a muffled cry and then narrowed his eyes in concentration.

Before Ron could even begin to guess what the boy was doing, he began to pull his arm sideways, Norbert's sunk canine teeth cutting the flesh from end to end as he finally pulled the limb away, leaving his forearm hanging by only the left side of the arm. The right side was jaggedly severed, blood gushing out and onto the floor.

Ron squeezed his eyes shut to keep from fainting. He snapped them open when he heard Tony's pained groan. The silver haired boy staggered back, grabbing at his forearm as he tried to keep the skin connected, and collapsed.

Ron swallowed back bile and knelt beside his friend, even though he wasn't sure what he could do. Tony helped him.

"Keep the arm in place." He forced out through clenched teeth. Ron obeyed dumbly.

In front of his eyes, the arm began to seal itself. Ron watched in horrified silence as the skin slowly mended itself, and though Tony's grimace said clearly that the damage wasn't mended on the inside, what happened was still unbelievable, and from what he had heard from Hermione, admitted about one possible explanation. His eyes snapped up to meet Tony's.

"You're a demon." He said, in a whisper.

Tony had pulled himself back to his feet, cradling his arm against his chest. They were only vaguely aware of Norbert's distressed growls. The dragon trotted over to the blood, sniffed it, and ran off to a corner, looking scared.

"You're a demon?" Ron repeated.

Tony bit his lip. "For whatever it's worth, it's only partial. Now, it'd be really great if you didn't mention this to anyone-"

"You're nuts if you think I'm keeping this a secret from Harry and Hermione." Ron turned, to see Hagrid shadowing the doorway.

"Oh, wha's all this blood? 's not Norbert's?"

"No, it's mine." said Tony, distractedly. A part of Ron noted that this was the gravest he'd seen Tony, not including the talk with Vergil outside the green house. The other part was too busy being indignant at the betrayal.

_-Demons can't be good. There's a reason they're called devils._ A part of him said.

_-Tony fought a troll to save Hermione! _The other part exclaimed.

_-Demons are dangerous. They don't have morals. Never trust demons._

_-Tony laughs and plays with us all the time. We're friends!_

"Let's go back to Gryffindor tower and sort this out." he said, feeling glad it wasn't up to him to choose anything. Tony didn't protest. He looked rather resigned.

"Then we can decide if we want you or not….whatever-your-name-is."

Tony visibly winced. Hagrid tried to block Ron's path. "Ron, think a bit. 'e's not bad."

"Oh great. You knew." muttered Ron. "Well, we'll see, right?" he pushed past Hagrid. Even if Tony-or-whoever-the-hell-he-was wasn't a bad guy, the fact that he kept a secret like this was enough to make him angry.

The half-giant took a look at the other boy's crestfallen face and said, "Don' worry, they won' 'old that agains' yeh."

"I hope so." Ron heard Tony say. "Really hope so." His voice was still weak, making Ron feel just a bit bad for snapping at him when he was injured this badly.

_-Maybe demons don't feel pain anyway._

_-That's ridiculous and you know it._

_-SHUT UP!_

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante swallowed as Ron hopped into the common room. This was it, then, he thought, following the redhead inside the room. Sometimes his own stupidity made him want to split his head on his own sword. Why oh why did he have to go and irritate Norbert like that?

Harry and Hermione were relaxing. Otherwise, the room was empty.

Seeing Ron's face, they immediately stood. "What happened?"

"Norbert bit me." Dante tried, feeling like a defendant before a jury.

"Tony's a demon." Ron supplied curtly.

Harry and Hermione both froze for a moment. Finally, Hermione said, "So I was right."

"I'm only part demon!" Dante protested.

"You're Sparda's descendant, aren't you?" she asked, excitedly. Dante felt hope sparkle. Maybe all was not lost yet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ron's jaw drop.

"Yeah." he answered Hermione.

"Wow." said Harry. "How far back is Sparda in the family tree?"

Ron was gaping like a fish. Dante felt like mirroring him.

"Ehm, he's actually my…."

"Wait a second." interrupted Ron. "Let me get this straight. He's a demon. With incredible powers. And he's lied to us since the beginning, and everybody's _okay_ with this?" he suddenly yelled, "DID I MISS SOMETHING?"

They all jumped. "Yeah," said Harry at last, as if only just remembering. "You should've told us, Tony."

Ron opened and closed his mouth, again looking like a fish. A goldfish. "Now hold on a sec-"

"Hermione told me the legend of Sparda-" Harry continued, "We know he was a good guy. You didn't have to hide who you are."

"And we know you're not evil." Hermione added firmly. "If that's what you were worried about."

Dante felt a grin slowly start to spread on his face, but he still couldn't get past the sudden lump in his throat.

_Vergil was wrong. They don't blame me for being me….finally I can show someone the actual me!_

The weight of that last thought made him stagger back a bit(or was it blood loss?) only for two sets of arms to grab him and steady him.

"Oh my…Tony! You're covered in blood! I can't believe I didn't notice…Are you hurt?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Like I said, Norbert bit me. It was pretty enthusiastic."

"Yeah. Sit down." said Harry distractedly, guiding him to a sofa. "Do demons feel pain as much as the rest of us?"

"Hurts like hell, if that's what you're asking."

"Oh. Alright then…."

"I'll be fine." Dante cut in. "My healing's incredibly fast. Ron saw my skin mend in seconds. The insides take more time."

"Brilliant." said Harry.

Ron had taken to sulking in a corner. But even Dante could tell his heart wasn't in it.

"I guess you're forgiven." He muttered finally, trying not to sulk but sounding like it anyway.

Dante grinned at him. "Dante."

"What?"

"You said, whatever-the-hell-your-name-is. My name is Dante."

Harry and Hermione smiled broadly at him and opened their mouths to speak. Dante's grin turned into a smirk.

"Son of Sparda, the 2000+ year old Dark Knight." He bowed. "At your service."

Hermione fainted. Harry stood shell-shocked, and Ron, forgetting his sulking, breathed, "Wicked!"

Dante laughed. For however short a time, he thought his friends were lost to him and _man_, did it feel good to have them back!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

As stated above, life no longer remained peaceful. Hermione now frequently dragged Dante off to practice all kinds of small charms on him, something that Dante endured with an impatient aura. To her delight, Dante seemed to be very resistant to magic…but to Dante's irritation, he was not even close to immunity. He knew it was something his father had much more than he did. Not to say he thought he was at the level of Sparda. He had seen his father spar once or twice, and his sword moved so fast that even his half-demon sons couldn't follow it. There was no reason to think that his other abilities did not match his skills with a sword.

After the initial shock had worn off, Harry and Ron went back to treating him like they did before, though Dante had to demonstrate his actual skills on a broomstick the next day. The twists and turns in the air had left Ron breathless and Harry a bit sulky that he wasn't the best Seeker in Gryffindor. Dante hadn't even gotten close to being reassuring; instead he had adopted a holier-than-thou air. Harry had decided he'd go and tell Professor McGonagall to take Dante as his replacement. Dante had dropped his act and threatened to bash his head in with the broom. 'You want the whole school to know what I am?' he had exclaimed, and that had finally caused Harry to relent.

Now that Hermione had dug through the books to find out about the wand-motion and the pronunciation, Dante was managing the Reductor Curse (Reducto) every time, much to Hermione's jealousy(How can you do it?! It's fifth year material!), and Malfoy's consternation, as many of his things were breaking without an explanation. A good example was the inkpot that had shattered and splayed ink all over his transfiguration class test answer sheet when only ten minutes were remaining. Needless to say, he had failed that exam.

For safety purposes, Neville was still in the dark. He was from a wizardry family that had followed many of the wizardry mottos blindly through the ages. They were mostly good; but there were ridiculous mottos as well, like the fact that all demons were believed to be incapable of even understanding goodness and were to be killed or at least reported as soon as they were seen. To know that his hero (that's what Tony Redgrave was to him now) was a half-demon could very well give him a heart attack.

Dante was mostly the same, but he couldn't get out of his head the things Vergil had said to him. Combined with the fact that Vergil had seemed so much stronger and faster in the duel, he became desperate enough to approach Hermione about it one day.

"Do you know of any things that can suddenly boost demon's abilities?" he asked her, softly over the rustles of turning pages. They were in their usual corner of the library, the place Dante only occupied the day before Potions. The other students kept a little distance from them. Ever since he, Hermione and Harry(Ron had come down with a cold) were caught at midnight on the Astronomy Tower after handing over Norbert to Charlie's friends, people had taken to avoid them. On the bright side, Malfoy had found out about the adventure while snooping about Hagrid's hut. He had gone after them, only to be caught by McGonagall in the Astronomy Tower and given detention with the rest of the adventurers.

Hermione looked up from her Transfiguration essay, which was already twice the size of the required amount. "Why?"

"Vergil. He beat me so easily that day, but that's not the problem." He added hurriedly, seeing Hermione doing an eye roll. "It's his strength. He's much stronger than he was before. And if I have to fight him some day…"

"You won't fight him again, Tony." Old habits. The name hadn't changed.

"I might have to. Who knows?"

Hermione shook her head, bushy hair falling all over her face. She irately pushed them back with one arm. "Don't look for trouble."

"I thought you liked researching?" Dante challenged. "C'mon Hermione, can't I know what happened to my brother? Besides, Sparda family always faces danger. I need to defend myself."

She chewed on her lip, seemingly having an argument with herself. At last she gave a quiet sigh. "They're in the restricted section, and we left the invisibility cloak at the top of the tower."

"Yeah, um….I'll get authorization from Snape."

Hermione's jaws dropped open. It was such a bizarre sight that Dante found himself laughing. "Oh, don't worry, I may be immune to loads of charms, but no one can resist _my_ charms."

"You'll get detention, Tony." She warned. "And you won't get the authorization."

"I'll probably get detention." Dante admitted with a loud sigh. "But I _will_ get the authorization."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Sir?"

Snape looked up sharply from his papers. Dante smirked to himself. Snape probably never saw a student stay longer than necessary in his class. Upon seeing Dante, Snape's surprised expression changed to exasperation and open hostility as he stared down from his desk at the Gryffindor.

Dante mentally scoffed. _Oh please, compared to my father's looks, you're like a kitten._

"What, Mr. Redgrave?"

"I need authorization to get a book from the restricted section." Dante slapped down a parchment on the table, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've written the whole thing, just sign."

Snape looked like he had just been dumped headfirst into the lake. No, check that, he looked like the lake had been turned upside down and dumped on his head.

Dante had to work _really_ hard to keep a straight face. "It's on demons and my father." He said as an explanation.

Snape had gotten his composure back. "I'm sure the Headmaster can tell you everything you need to know." he said coldly, back to his stoic posture.

"Yeah, let's go to the Headmaster's office everyday and say, 'Tell me stories about my dad!'" Dante retorted. "Jeez, I don't want stories, Professor, I want information on my abilities. From people who has experience with demons. That's all I want."

Snape stared in disbelief, and finally thundered, "Detention, Mr. Redgrave."

Dante shrugged. "Thanks. Now, the signature, sir?"

Snape turned an interesting shade of violet. Dante snorted. Now that was interesting.

"How, exactly, are you planning on using this information?" Snape asked when his face had finally regained its naturally unnatural paleness, his voice still filled with cold disdain.

Oh, this was too much fun.

"I do solemnly swear, sir, that I am up to no good." He said, solemnly enough.

Snape opened his mouth.

"But I do solemnly VOW, sir, that if you don't give me authorization I will destroy every ingredient you have and then the new supplies, and you won't catch me."

Snape's jaws went further apart as he prepared to explode. Dante allowed himself a small smile.

"And I also swear, sir, that I won't break your trust if you give it to me." He finished, openly grinning as he saw Snape's mouth slam shut and his mask fully crumble, giving way to utter surprise.

Dante waited. He was in no hurry. He looked Snape in the eye and let him put together the puzzle and figure out the message: like he did with Hermione.

Dante could've gone to Dumbledore to get the signature. Dante could've tried to sneak in the library himself, and Snape had to know that if he was capable of going into the Forbidden Forest, he was capable of going to the library. But now that he had told Snape, it would be much harder for him to do so.

It wasn't just Snape who had to put his trust in Dante. The boy had already made his choice. And he had chosen to trust Severus Snape of all people.

Without another word, Snape picked up the quill and scribbled a hasty signature on the page. Dante snatched the paper away, and shook his head at the messy signature.

"What's with you and uncleanness?" he groaned.

Snape glared. "Detention for two weeks, Mr. Redgrave. In the dungeons. 7 o'clock."

Dante snorted with laughter. "Oh, don't pretend you're angry. You're just looking for an excuse to get me to spend time with you. That's why you've forgotten to even cut points from Gryff-" he paled and slapped his hands over his mouth.

Snape sneered. "20 points from Gryffindor."

"Bast**d." muttered Dante

"I'm sorry, what was that?" the professor hissed.

"Clustered." he said lamely. "That blood in that jar…"

Snape eyed him with his upper lip curled, but didn't say anything.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Here it is!" Hermione cried. "The swords of Sparda: Rebellion, Yamato and Force Edge."

Three heads bent over the page. "So?" Ron said at last.

"There!" Harry pointed. The line he was indicating was near the end of the paragraph with the heading, 'Rebellion'.

They read it and looked up at each other, horror written on every line of their faces.

_Devil Trigger is a power given to the wielder by the sword as a sign of complete submission. It is unleashed by a stab clean through the heart of the owner._

Dante was the first to react. "I think I'm going to be sick." He said, jumping up and running to the window to throw aside the curtains and breathe deeply.

"So Vergil was-" Hermione breathed, after a long silence.

"Tony thinks so." Ron said, though he looked sick as well. "Who says it's true? Maybe-"

"Oh, no." Dante said from his position by the window. "I recognize that trigger in the picture. I saw it the day we were dueling."

There were a few moments of silence.

"Right." said Harry. "So that means demons can survive a stab through the heart?"

"Not everyone." Dante muttered, running a hand through his silver hair. "I guess we're special cases. Comes with being Sparda's sons."

"Creepy. So how are people supposed to kill you?" Ron asked.

"Who knows?" Dante spread his arms. "I'm not even sure myself."

"So demons don't age, and some demons can't be killed. Blimey, you guys don't even NEED a sorcerer's stone."

"Yeah," Dante said distractedly, "But we're half-demons. We probably age-" he stopped short.

_So that's why! Vergil thinks that all he needs to be all but completely immune to death is the sorcerer's stone!_

Dante grabbed a fistful of his hair. "Damn. He'll never back out."

"What?" it was Hermione, looking suspicious.

"Nothing, nothing. Um…don't we have the detention today?"

She glanced at the clock, and gulped. "Goodness! We're late!"

**1: Yes, I gave Flamel his own card. After what he invented, I like to think he should get one. I don't know if he's supposed to have one, but this is an AU, so what's wrong with changing more things?**

**That's that until next chapter! I don't really know if it'll be up in time, though. My pc has gone all crazy on me and flatly refuses to even start the OS, and even that is when it actually shows anything on the screen. This is my brother's laptop and he is supposed to leave next week. I don't know when my pc will be fixed.**

**Let me know what you think!**

**Reply to unsigned review(s):**

Crossover Junkie: Thank you so much for the review! As I told another reader, I've never been in a snowball fight because it doesn't snow in Bangladesh. It's really good to know I managed to write it well, even 'lovably'. And yes, Dante has. I couldn't resist, really, Snape being my favorite and everything! Keep reading.

**Next chapter: **Forbidden Forest, of course! And some sideline drama.


	9. Foreboding Happenings

**Thanks to shadowmwape, Goddess of the Chibi Dragon, ChromeEater, cookiepandaluv, sas5linkar and dbhamra for favoriting and again shadowmwape, Goddess of the Chibi Dragon, ChromeEater, sas5linker, cookiepandaluv and PROFFESORffilc for following!**

**The response I got from the last chapter really lifted my spirits! By the way, last chapter was absolutely teeming with references, did anyone notice that? If any of you have just finished reading that chapter, you're welcome to let me know how many you found! Harry Potter quotes don't count, of course. I myself found 7 of them after revising(that is if you count the half-willing reference to my own DMC fic).**

**Enough blabbering! Let's get on with it.**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue.**

**Where we left off:**

'_So that's why! Vergil thinks that all he needs to do to be all but completely immune to death is the sorcerer's stone!'_

_Dante grabbed a fistful of his hair. "Damn. He'll never back out."_

"_What?" it was Hermione, looking suspicious._

"_Nothing, nothing. Um…don't we have the detention tonight?"_

_She glanced at the clock, and gulped. "Goodness! We're late!"_

**Here we go!**

Chapter 8

Their moods were very gloomy by the time they said goodbye to Ron and began walking down the stairs. Tony, though, somehow kept himself in better spirits.

"Anyone noticed the irony?" he asked cheerfully. "We go out after active hours and break school rules, and so they force us to go out during curfew and technically break school rules."

Harry attempted a chuckle. It came out choked. Tony turned to look at them, eyebrows raised.

"What are you so scared about?"

"I don't know. That's the problem: We don't know what the punishment will be."

"Maybe they'll feed us to Norbert's mummy. That's the real one, by the way. Not Hagrid."

Hermione slapped a hand over her mouth, looking like she was about to be sick. Harry glared at Tony, who seemed confused.

"What? I'm just trying to-"

"Don't. You're doing a terrible job." Harry assured him.

Tony shrugged at that, and fell silent. Harry shot him a jealous look; he really wished he could be that calm.

They met Filch and Malfoy at the entrance hall. Now joined by the Slytherin boy, they quietly followed Filch, who chattered away happily about morbid punishments. Tony rolled his eyes, and to Harry's unutterable astonishment, picked up Mrs. Norris from the floor and cradled her in his arms.(1) She sniffed and growled at him, and Tony snorted. "Get your own rats, Your Highness!"

She hissed quietly and tried to scratch at his arms. Tony sandwiched her legs between his chest and arms. "Jeez, I've got it, I've got it! Why is it that every single female I meet boss me around?"

Filch had turned his head by then, and his eyes narrowed at the feline who was now pulling out a slick, brown dead rat from Tony's robe pocket.(2) Harry thought his own eyes might pop out of their sockets. Tony brought Mrs. Norris a _treat_. Tony brought _Mrs. Norris_ a treat! And the cat actually seemed to like him!

It seemed Filch had noticed the last part as well, because though he scowled, he didn't say anything about it. The rest of the way was passed in thankful silence.

The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. Ahead, Harry could see the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut. Then they heard a distant shout.

"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."

Harry's heart rose; if they were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn't be so bad. His relief must have showed in his face, because Filch said, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy — it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece."

At this, Tony broke out into a grin and Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks.

"The forest?" he repeated, and he didn't sound quite as cool as usual. "We can't go in there at night — there's all sorts of things in there — werewolves, I heard."

"That's your problem, isn't it?" said Filch, his voice cracking with glee as his spirits seemed to lift. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"

"Next time, I'll get in trouble a bit faster, thanks." Tony replied, his grin stretching from ear to ear.

Hagrid came striding toward them out of the dark, Fang at his heel. He was carrying his large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder. There was a sword peeking out from under his cloak.

"Abou' time," he said. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Hermione?"

Harry noted he didn't ask Tony. Maybe he knew what sort Tony was by then.

"I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," said Filch coldly, "They're here to be punished, after all."

"That's why yer late, is it?" said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. "Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."

"I'll be back at dawn," said Filch, "for what's left of them," he added nastily, and he turned and started back toward the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.

Malfoy now turned to Hagrid. "I'm not going in that forest," he said, and Harry was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.

"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it."

"But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd —"

"— tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled. Tony snickered and gave Hagrid a thumb up. "Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on!"

Malfoy didn't move. He looked at Hagrid furiously, but then dropped his gaze.

"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Righ' Tony?"

Tony shrugged. Hagrid looked worried. Harry thought he had ample reason.

"Follow me over here a moment."

He led them to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. A light breeze lifted their hair as they looked into the forest.

"Look there," said Hagrid, "see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."

"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" said Malfoy, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.

"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," said Hagrid.("Ah, shame!" said Tony) "An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff 'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least."

"I want Fang," said Malfoy quickly, looking at Fang's long teeth.

"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward," said Hagrid. "So me, Harry, an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, Tony, an' Fang'll go the other. Look after 'em, Tony. Both of 'em."

"Sure." said Tony, grinning evilly at Malfoy who seemed to be resisting the urge to back up a step.

"Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now — that's it — an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh — so, be careful — let's go. Oh, somethin' fer the two o' yeh, Tony, know how ter use a sword?" with a wink, Hagrid pulled out Rebellion from his cloak.

Harry thought Tony's cheeks were going to burst, so big was his smile. He reached up and took the sword, caressing it lovingly before setting it on his back. Malfoy seemed to be torn between relieved and afraid.

"Thank the old man for me, Hagrid." said Tony.

"O' course." said Hagrid. "Le's go."

The forest was black and silent. A little way into it they reached a fork in the earth path, and Harry, Hermione, and Hagrid took the left path while Malfoy, Tony, and Fang took the right.

"Don't get in trouble, Tony." Hermione murmured to him as they parted. "Don't let Malfoy goad you into doing anything rash."

"C'mon, did you see his face?" Tony laughed. He looked exulted. "Oh, we're having fun."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante knelt beside a small puddle of silver blood in the ground. A part of him was screaming at him to pick it up and taste it, but he resisted it.

"Getting closer." he said softly. "C'mon, boy!"

Fang didn't need to be told that, he was already wrapped around Dante as it was. He followed the eleven year old closely, ears drooping and tail between its legs. Malfoy was trying to be brave, but it was obvious he was afraid.

"So…your father." Dante murmured, after another glance at the blonde's ashen face. "How was he like at Christmas?"

Malfoy jumped at the unexpected sound. He turned and eyed Dante with open suspicion. "What's that to you?"

"Well, I'm sure you had loads of fun." Dante waved it off, his sardonic tone making Malfoy even more suspicious. "How's your preparation for exam coming along?"

Malfoy huffed and turned away. "Better than you, Redgrave. You just barely pass the class test as it is. Save a seat next to Granger in the exam, that's the only way you're ever going to make it to 2nd year."

"Oh, no, I think I'll leave them to Crabbe and Goyle." Dante replied smoothly. "You know, let you keep your bodyguards up to 3rd year."

"They're not my bodyguards." Malfoy said, looking flushed.

"Sure, sure. Look, Draco," Dante enjoyed the bristle the word earned him, "Fifteen minutes without them, and you're so scared you're shaking."

"It's cold." Malfoy defended.

"In the middle of March? Oh, sorry, I totally forgot: This is Antarctica!"

Malfoy didn't say anything, just seethed. Dante scowled. He'd finally had enough. He was going to teach this brat a lesson.

He waited for a few moments, and then purposely channeled his demonic powers into his throat and let out a loud growl from behind. He himself was impressed at the sound that emerged. The effects were more than satisfying.

Malfoy screamed and sent up a shower of red sparks, and simultaneously looked around for Dante. Not finding him, he grabbed Fang and let out a very girlish whimper.

Dante howled with laughter. Malfoy started, his gaze snapping to Dante. His face reddened comically as he saw Dante doubled over, clutching his stomach as he laughed uproariously.

"You think this is funny?" Malfoy hissed.

"Course it is." Dante straightened. "Oh, your face!" he made an effort to make his voice serious. "Go ahead, then, Hagrid will probably switch teams now. You can stay with him if you want to -" he trailed off.

Something was moving in the forest. A dark shadow. Dante's powers tinged beneath his skin. Something was terribly wrong.

"Draco." he said softly. "Can you see Hagrid?"

"No." Malfoy murmured, sounding scared. A part of Dante noted he didn't object to Dante saying his first name. "Why?"

"I…" he trailed off, drawing his sword. "Stay with Fang. I'm going."

"Redgrave! Hey, you can't just-"

"There!" Dante pointed. "There's Hagrid, and there's his team. I can hear their footsteps. You go ahead, I'll be right behi-"

But Malfoy clutched his arm. Dante didn't laugh. The pure terror on his classmate's face was not something to laugh at. Instead, he slowly pried his sleeve off and said, "You'll be alright. And I'll be back."

He ran off without looking back. He didn't know what the thing was, but he knew something that dark couldn't possibly belong in this forest.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

He picked up the trail within a few moments and started walking quickly and silently. It didn't take him long to catch sight of his prey. The black creature was crawling on all fours, but it was moving very fast. It looked more like a hooded human than a beast.

Dante was about to go forward and confront it, but he saw something that stopped him in his tracks.

It was a dead unicorn, arguably the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The hooded thing crawled swiftly to it, and began to drink from its neck. Dante snorted to himself, unwilling to even acknowledge the fear that was building in him.

"Hey," he called, holding his sword at the ready, "You thirsty?"

The figure lifted its head, and Dante saw silver blood dripping.

"Really thirsty, aren't you? That can't be too good to drink." He took a step forward. "But then, a human-like creature who crawls can't have a good sense of dignity, right? I can get you Fang's water dish, probably."

The figure looked at him, down to his sword, and suddenly turned to run.

"Oh no, you don't!" With four swift steps, Dante was in a position to dive, and he did, straight onto the thing's back, and pulled off the hood.

A snake-like face met his eyes. The features included a nearly non-existent nose and glowing red eyes, staring at him from a bald head that looked remarkably human…and then the figure whirled about and cast a jet of purple light at him. Dante was slammed into the closest tree, and his vision became blurry as he stared after the retreating figure. He hadn't seen the front, blinded by the light, but he had smelled the body, and it was _reeking_ of garlic.

"Two faced, huh?" he breathed. "See you, professor. See you, Lordy Voldy."

And then, the world swam and he knew no more.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Are you all right?"

Dante opened his eyes to see a half-lion, half-human looking down at him. "You're late for the show." He croaked, pointing a finger at it(he or she? It looked like a he…). "It's interval, pal."

The creature furrowed his brow slightly. "You are as unusual as they say. You are the son of Sparda; Dante?"

"Congratulations." Dante replied. "And yeah, I do my best. Can I have a ride?"

The creature looked him up and down. He gave a nod, and Dante pulled himself to his feet and jumped all the way up to his back.

"What does who say about me?" he asked, struggling to keep his eyes open. He was sleepy…

"Firenze!" another creature was coming into view, with red hair, followed by another with dark hair. Both looked older than Firenze.

"What are you doing?" yelled the redhead. "You have a child on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?"

"Do you realize who this is?" said Firenze. "This is the son of Sparda, Dante. He has been through an ordeal, and it is better for him to go back to school as quickly as possible."

"What have you been telling him?" growled Bane. "Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?"

The other pawed the ground nervously. "I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best," he said in a gloomy voice.

The redhead kicked his back legs in anger.

"For the best! What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray children in our forest!"

Firenze suddenly reared on to his hind legs in anger. Dante shifted slightly but did not look up.

"Do you not see that unicorn?" Firenze bellowed at Bane. "Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret? I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane, yes, with children alongside me if I must."

Dante looked up from where he had rested his head against Firenze's hair.

"You stargazer lot are really annoying, you know that?" he called. "I'm trying to sleep here. And by the way, your business sounds way more boring than mule's, and that's saying something."

The redhead spluttered, clearly not used to be talked to that way. "You're-" he began.

"Doing something more productive than you lot." Dante retorted. "By the way, what do you guys even do during the day? Daydreaming of the stars?"

Firenze tensed beneath him, and galloped away before the speechless redhead could say anything more. Dante winced at the pace his mount had set.

"Um…look, if I've offended you…then well….you had it coming, anyway. Always staring at the stars, getting predictions from the stars and then not using it anywhere…what are you guys even doing?" he winced at his own attitude. Not because he didn't think they were justified, but because if Firenze threw him off now…well.

Firenze didn't reply for a moment. "Centaurs do not set themselves against what we foresee in the stars." He said finally. "But this is a situation in which I daresay we might make an exception. You have already had a most eventful year, son of Sparda."

"And I'm about to have more?" Dante guessed. "You fortune-tellers are all the same, pal. Always ill-omens."

The creature seemed puzzled. "What did you call us?"

"Fortune-tellers? Frauds who predict the future by stars and things." Dante replied. The creature seemed angry at that.

"Centaurs are not frauds." He said. "But there are a few occasions in which the stars have been read wrongly. Son of Sparda, can you truly not think of one reason by which your life may be placed in jeopardy?"

"By the end of the school year?" Dante asked. "I dunno…good old Voldy really doesn't seem strong enough. He caught me off my guard, won't happen again."

"But is there someone who is?" the centaur pressed.

Dante let out a soft sigh. _Vergil. _"That's what you think?" he asked tiredly, leaning forward to place his head against the centaur's neck. "That he'll even kill me if it means he'll get power?"

"We do not judge by our personal opinions, son of Sparda."

"Yeah. The stars. Well, for a fortune-teller, you're not bad. But you're wrong." He drew himself up. "Vergil may _try _to kill me. But I'll kick his…" he bit his lip. "Back." He finished lamely.

"Well…" there was a quiet sigh. "I do detect the required determination in you. The required strength, however-"

"Tony!"

Harry and Hermione emerged from a cluster of trees to their left, running full speed towards them. Fang followed closely, barking. After them came Hagrid, his huge form easily swiping the two eleven year olds aside as he made a beeline for the centaur and his burden.

"Hullo, Firenze." boomed Hagrid as he shook the creature by the hand. "All right?"

"Well enough." Firenze replied. Dante jumped down from his back.

"Thanks." He said to the centaur. "No hard feelings?"

"Sorry?"

"Never mind. Thanks again."

Hagrid exchanged pleasantries with Firenze. Dante was dragged aside by Hermione and Harry.

"Are you okay? You look horrible!" Hermione blurted. "Oh, you're shaking!"

"Still?" Dante looked down in surprise. "Oh. I need to sleep it off."

"What happened?" Harry asked. "Malfoy told us you went off after something. He seemed scared."

Dante lifted a brow in surprise. Malfoy was standing a few feet away, beside Fang. He was staring at the ground. So he was worried?

He was pleased to note his voice was as cool as ever when he said, "Scared? Why doesn't _that_ surprise me?"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

What followed was rather unique. Dante went to see Dumbledore about Quirrell the next day, and got the response he least expected.

"Let him face it?" he repeated in disbelief. "You want me to let Harry face it?"

"I have reason to believe young Harry will come into contact with Lord Voldemort many more times, Dante. It's better to-"

"I don't think so, sir." Dante said coolly, but suddenly a smirk spread over his face.

"What say you to _me_ trying my hand at a Dark Lord? I'll need practice."

Dumbledore shook his head. "Dante, you do realize what fighting a human with no demonic qualities entrails? Make no mistake, you will not be fighting Lord Voldemort; you'll be fighting Professor Quirrell."

Dante let out a loud sigh. He really didn't enjoy the idea of having to hurt a human; it was, to him, like a chivalrous man felt about hurting a woman.

"Well, then, I won't fight Quirrell for Harry. I'll just…you know, see that he doesn't end up dead."

Dumbledore nodded, smiling. "Good."

"I'm worried about something else though."

Dumbledore leaned forward, studying him from behind his spectacles. "Yes?" he pressed.

"Vergil. He-" Dante cut himself off. Telling Dumbledore might end up getting Vergil expelled. And truth be told, he didn't want to see that happen. Not after what Vergil had told him about his life these last two years. "Well, he's rearing up for a duel."

"Are _you_?" his grand-uncle asked softly.

"No." Dante replied truthfully. "It might turn out more…deadly than intended. Well, I'd better be off." He climbed up the stairs without permission, and came back with two strawberry sundaes easily balanced in his arms.

"You'll get fat." he warned, pointing with his thumb back at the makeshift fridge.

"So people have been telling me for the past fifty years." Dumbledore winked, and Dante grinned.

"Bye, Uncle Albus. Oh, lovely password."

Dumbledore beamed. "Well, that is reassuring. Minerva and Severus were telling me off."

Dante shrugged as he walked through the doorway. "Why should they? It's way better than some of the other things you could've picked, like lollypop."

He went out of sight, leaving Dumbledore looking thoughtful. "Lollypop." he murmured to himself.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante entered the common room late that evening, thinking through what he was going to tell his friends.

"Tony? Where've you been?" Hermione scolded, as usual. "You're falling behind, the exams are only a week away!"

Dante looked around. The common room was filled with students. "Pass me the Transfiguration copy." he said. "By the way, remember I told you about seeing some weird creature yesterday in the forest?"

"Yeah, you never told us what happened." Ron cut in.

"Later." Dante replied, flipping through the pages.

As they read and wrote things down, the common room slowly emptied. Dante finished off the chapter in Charms he was reading and went to stand by the fireplace.

"I'm pretty sure I actually saw Voldemort in the forest last night." He said without any preamble.

Hermione slapped her hands over her mouth. Ron gasped. Harry became white.

Dante continued on, "Voldemort was-"

"Don't say the name!" Ron whispered.

"Good old Voldy-" Dante amended, ignoring Ron's wince, "-was drinking the unicorn's blood. Why was he doing that, yes, Miss hand-in-the air Granger?"

Hermione scowled, but she did answer. "Unicorn's blood lengthens one's lifespan. However, the drinker's life will be cursed the moment the blood touches his lips."

"Five points to Gryffindor." grinned Dante. "So he was doing that, and I offered to do him one better and get him Fang's water dish."

Hermione looked rather ill. Ron didn't look much better. "Tony…" she said in a small voice. "You need to stop doing that."

"No, I don't. Anyway, so he turned and ran - That's right, Ron, he ran from me. I managed to jump him though. I saw his face. It looks sorta like a snake's. But he slipped from my grasp," at everyone's disbelieving look, he added, "Well, he cast some spell at me and ran off. I was knocked out-" His ears turned red, to his mortification, "And when I woke, this centaur had found me and he gave me a ride on his back. He told me that creature was Oldy Voldy and that he was after the stone in the school." Lying didn't feel very good, he realized.

"So it was You-Know-Who that cursed you?" Hermione murmured. "Tony, you should go to the hospital wing."

"I took all my classes today, Hermione." Dante retorted. "There's nothing wrong with me."

"Nothing wrong with you?" Ron repeated in disbelief. "Yeah, except your head that's screwed up the wrong way."

Dante shot him a dirty look. "I'm not the one who looks like his head is always set on fire."

Harry got up and began pacing the length of the common room. "So Voldemort is out there….waiting for Snape to bring him the stone-" Dante scoffed in his mind, _Snape, right…_"so that he can come back. And if he comes back…"

"Whoa, Harry, slow down." Dante held up a hand. "He's not coming back. Leave that to me."

"If he comes back-" Harry went on, "He'll kill me and take over the school…well, I guess Snape'll be real happy."

"He's. Not. Coming. Back." Dante repeated. "Get this through your thick skull, Harry."

"How'd you know?" Harry whirled on him.

"Because I know that with my power, I can stop him. I just need a bit of help. From all of you. I gotta warn you though, it'll be very, very hard. And it might be painful."

"Anything." said Hermione and Harry, together, even though the former looked a bit pale.

Dante walked back to the first year boy's dormitory, and came down a few minutes later with Rebellion in his hand.

"I need you to unleash my DT."

They stared at him, jaws hanging open.

"Well?" he hissed. "You said 'anything'…"

The room exploded as three voice began shouting together.

"Are you mental?" Ron yelled. "No, don't answer that. What the bloody hell do you think you're-"

"We can do this together!" Harry said at the same time, shaking his head. "There's no need for you to-"

"You can't do that, Tony!" Hermione protested. "We'll tell the professors and they'll sort it out!"

_Already tried that. _"Tell them what?" Dante challenged. "'Sir, a Dark Lord who's supposed to be dead is drinking unicorn blood and also cursed me, all just outside the school'? They'll just tell me my memories are jumbled together because of that spell."

"We can just tell them to strengthen the protection…"

"If there was any way to make it stronger, they would've done that. That dog's probably just the beginning. Hagrid said it, didn't he…other professors helped with the protection."

"Well," Harry said firmly, "We're not doing it, Tony, end of story. Let's get some sleep."

Dante glared at them all. "I'll do it by myself, then."

"You're joking!" said Ron.

"No, but he's probably bluffing." Harry said. "No, Tony, our answer stays."

"And we don't even know if you'll survive a stab through the heart!" Hermione cut in. "All we know is what a book says!"

Dante's eyebrows disappeared into his hair. "Really, 'Mione?" he asked incredulously. "You're doubting books?"

Hermione flushed. "Well…the thing is, Tony…I can't believe you'll even think that we'll do this!"

Dante rubbed his head. "If Voldy comes back-" Ron inhaled sharply at the name, "-he'll kill you, Harry."

"That's not the point here." Harry muttered, but he did look a bit pale.

"Don't play hero." Dante hissed, frustrated.

"Play hero? I'm not the one who's trying to sacrifice himself to save the wizardry world."

"Hm." Dante fell silent, with a scowl etched on his face. But slowly, the scowl got morphed into a somewhat hesitant, if genuine, smile.

"Thanks." he said quietly. "I really wasn't looking forward to have a sword through my chest."

The others smiled, relieved. "Especially not your jumbo sized sword." Ron added.

"Hey!"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante blinked his eyes open, and took in the darkness around him. The moonlight ray on the last bed of the dormitory suggested that it was at least midnight. At first, he didn't quite realize what had woken him. He sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes and looking around. Contrary to popular belief, he was a very light sleeper. It might just be someone tossing in their bed.

A gasp came from inside Harry's four poster. Dante's eyes widened in realization he identified the problem: His friend was having a nightmare.

He stood up and crossed the distance between the two beds in a few strides. He parted the curtains and looked down. Harry was twitching, but his eyes were still closed. Beads of sweat covered his forehead.

Dante leaned over him and shook his shoulder. "Harry? Hey, wake up."

Harry bolted upright, and it was only Dante's quick reflexes that saved him from being head-butted. Harry stared at him with wild, haunted eyes, evidently not completely back from the land of dreaming.

"You were having a nightmare." Dante said, holding up his hands in a non-threatening posture.

Harry slumped. "Sorry I woke you." he said hoarsely, pressing a hand to his forehead and wiping at the sweat.

"Sorry's not gonna help." Dante said flippantly. Harry didn't reply, used to his friend's attitude. "Let's hear what ruined my sleep." He shoved at Harry until he moved over, and sat down with his back against a pillow. He crossed his arms and waited.

Harry looked down at the covers and didn't answer.

Dante poked his shoulder none-too-gently. Harry winced and rubbed at the spot. "Go on, tell me."

Harry chewed on his lower lip. And Dante understood.

"Voldemort and your parents?" he asked in a soft voice. Harry looked up in astonishment, clearly not expecting such a gentle tone to come from Tony Redgrave's mouth. Then he chuckled slightly.

"You know, don't you? What it feels like?"

Dante nodded simply.

"I don't remember my parents though." Harry said softly. "I only remember…a flash of green light. I saw Voldemort…it was a hooded figure, like you said…with the face of a snake. Then I heard a woman screaming…" he swallowed. Dante waited silently. "I think it was mum."

Dante clenched his fingers around the cover of the bed and tried to ignore the lump in his throat.

"And that flash of green light…and I woke up. Do you think…that's how…"

"Maybe." Dante said simply. "This happens often?"

Harry shook his head. "Just tonight."

"Makes sense. I would've heard."

Harry shifted uneasily. Dante lowered the pillow and sat up straighter. He had a feeling he knew what was coming. No doubt his friend wanted to ask him about his own childhood….but Harry didn't say anything. Instead, he lay back down under the covers.

Dante smiled, pleasantly surprised. "So…dreaming about Voldemort. Believe me, he's really ugly. Nothing to…"

"Shut up, Tony!" Harry's muffled voice came from under the pillow. Dante snickered and stood up. He climbed into his own bed, smiling to himself. And he could just see Harry's grinning face under his eyelids.

The next night, when Harry was roughly shaken awake from the clutches of his nightmare, he simply mumbled a 'thanks' and went to sleep without even noticing who it was. And if he found the covers pulled up over his shoulders when he woke in the morning, well, Tony swore it was just the wind.

**1: I find it hard to believe that animals can be evil. Especially cats, or dogs. I'm pretty sure Mrs. Norris can't be the skinny evil thing Harry figures it to be.**

**2: Nope, not Scabbers. It would've been great if it was. Unfortunately, I don't think even Dante's strange enough to feed Ron's pet to a cat.**

**Until next chapter. then! In which: Dante and the gang finish off their exams, the half-demon boy takes matters into his own hands and the trio goes down the trapdoor.**

**Reply to unsigned review(s):**

Hobbit: Thanks! I made him learn those things by himself because, well, Dante has Hermione now, so he has to learn the value of studying, right? No more coincidences(not that Harry's life isn't completely filled with lucky breaks)! Now you have more to read. Let me know your thoughts!

Crossover Junkie: Thanks for the compliments! You encouraged me a lot. Your surroundings sound perfect, too! Keep reading.

**Leave a review, please! I love feedbacks, obviously.**


	10. A storm approaches

**Thanks to immcaine, Gamer CJ. Ulquihimefan1, XFireDevil23, Annoying Owl, DreadWraith, Wolfman217 and namikaze93600 for favoriting and again immcaine, Soulless Scotsman, Ulquihimefan1, Annoying Owl and OtakuForLife13 for following! Amazing response! Thank you so much.**

**50 follows and 50+ reviews! This is so awesome. You're all awesome! *hugs every reader* **

**So, now that silly outbursts are out of the way, let's get on with it, shall we? It's rather short, I know, but I didn't really have much of a clue about how to make it bigger, so I'm giving it to you how it is.**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue.**

**Where we left off:**

"_Shut up, Tony!" Harry's muffled voice came from under the pillow. Dante snickered and stood up. He climbed into his own bed, smiling to himself. And he could just see Harry's grinning face under his eyelids._

_The next night, when Harry was roughly shaken awake from the clutches of his nightmare, he simply mumbled a 'thanks' and went to sleep without even noticing who it was. And if he found the covers pulled up over his shoulders when he woke, well, Tony swore it was just the wind._

**Here we go!**

Chapter 9

The tests started soon enough, and the days passed by in a blur and before long, the last two exams were looming over them, both on the same day.

The first exam brought about mixed feelings.

"What the hell's the problem with McGonagall?" Dante grumbled as they walked out of the hall. "Transforming a perfectly good mouse into a snuffbox! Why would people need that spell anyway?"

"Mine had whiskers." Ron said, shuddering. "I plucked a few off before she caught me, though."

"Mine had the tail sticking out." Harry said. "I could swear it was wriggling when McGonagall took points off of me…"

"The snuffbox seemed too plain!" said Hermione. "The design was too light in places-"

Ron rolled his eyes heavenwards. "You okay?" Dante asked Harry, who was rubbing his forehead.

"My scar." Harry replied. "It's burning ever since we found you in the forest."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey." Hermione told him.

"I'm not ill." said Harry. "I think it's a warning…it means danger's coming."

Dante smirked. "Bring it on, then!"

Ron and Hermione sent him incredulous looks. Harry shook his head. "I'm serious."

"You three have done nothing except being serious since the start of this exam." Dante put his hands on his hips. "And I've had just about enough of that. History exam's in an hour, get reading or whatever it is you do, and I expect you all to be cheerful in two hours tops."

Harry smiled tightly at that, but he still seemed restless.

"Harry, relax," said Ron, "Hermione's right, the stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

"Yeah." Harry said absently, "Maybe…"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Just past the two hour mark, the bell chimed, and they all came out of their last exam, History of Magic. Dante let out a slight whoop and ran to the giant squid basking in the shallows. He poked the tentacles for a moment, and then jumped up to the nearest tree and vanished from sight.

Ron watched him with open jealousy. "Being half-demon's fun." he said.

Hermione sat down on the grass, pulling out her exam question paper. Ron crumpled it up. "Stop that. It makes me nervous."

Hermione sighed, but relented.

Harry rolled over onto his back on the grass, staring up at the sky. He couldn't get rid of the unsettling feeling in his stomach.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante went up to the castle, searching for his sword. Tonight he was going to pull Quirrell's turban off, even if it meant going against Dumbledore. He had just about enough of watching Harry have nightmares and scar-aches.

He found his sword and went to Dumbledore's office. He might as well give his great-uncle a warning first.

It came as a shock to see Vergil standing outside Dumbledore's office, frustration evident on his face. He was rubbing his knuckles, making Dante snicker as his twin tried to stare down the gargoyle.

"Get lost, Verge." He said with a smirk. "Can't even guess a password."

Vergil glared at him. "I invite you to try."

Dante puffed out his chest and shoved Vergil out of the way. "Strawberry sundae!"

The gargoyle didn't budge. Dante felt something drop in the pit of his stomach, but the feeling was gone when he heard a very undignified snort. He glowered at Vergil, who was pressing his lips together hard to stifle his laughter.

"Strawberry sundae? Really, Dante!"

"Stop doing rhymes." Dante grumbled. He looked at the gargoyle with an offended expression. "I can get this." He said, schooling his features.

"Lemon drop! Bortie Bott's every flavor beans! Toffee!"

The lion stared at him vacantly.

"Ice-cream! Sherbet lemon!"

No answer.

"Jeez!" Dante rolled his eyes. "This old man's actually picked a new password at my words. The one time he actually shouldn't have listened to me…" His eyes widened. "Oh no! He didn't!" he turned to the door, ignoring Vergil's snickering. "Lollypop?"

The gargoyle moved aside. Vergil blinked while Dante just shook his head with a snort.

Vergil scowled, pushed past him and began making his way up. Chuckling under his breath, Dante followed.

The office was empty. Dante looked around at the bookshelves and then to the neatly arranged papers on the desk. "Professor Dumbledore!" he yelled. No one answered.

"Upstairs, maybe." said Vergil, and he walked purposefully towards the stairs. Dante watched him go, then opened a drawer and pulled out a shiny box. He threw back the lid and popped two sherbet lemons in his mouth. The stuff was actually good.

He sat down in Dumbledore's chair and waited for his brother to come back, consuming about a dozen sweets in that time. Dumbledore didn't come.

"He's not here." Vergil called, coming down the stairs, Yamato grasped in his hand. Dante jumped up at the sight of it.

"What are you doing?" he called. "He confiscated it."

"You're talking about rules?" Vergil shot back, already halfway down the stairs leading outside. Dante let his eyes fall closed. Yamato and Vergil, and the Sorcerer's Stone. Coupled with Dumbledore's absence, this was a disaster waiting to happen.

A light weight settled on his arm. Looking up, he saw the beautiful bird he had seen on Dumbledore's shoulder, once or twice. He had been told it was a phoenix, named…

"Hey, Fawkes." He said, stroking the bird. "Where'd your master go?"

The bird let out a quiet, musical note, flying to the window. Dante felt a sinking weight in his chest.

"Out? Uncle Albus went out of the school without you?"

He could've sworn the bird had nodded.

"Merlin…!" he breathed. "Be back, Fawkes."

He ran down the stairs. He had to go and check on Fluffy.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante ran and jumped the whole way to the third floor. Professor McGonagall was yelling at Harry in the corridor, so he quickly hid behind the doorway.

"I suppose you think you're harder to get past than a pack of enchantments!" she stormed. "Enough of this nonsense! If I hear you've come anywhere near here again, I'll take another fifty points from Gryffindor! Yes, Weasley, from my own House!"

"What happened?" Dante asked them, as they morosely made their way back.

"Hagrid told Snape about Fluffy-" Harry began.

"He _said_ it was _Snape_?" Dante cut in.

Ron glared. "Oh, not that again!"

"No." Harry said quickly. "Hagrid said the stranger kept his hood up. But he got Hagrid drunk, and Hagrid told him how to get past Fluffy. We tried to tell McGonagall and she didn't believe us….don't say 'I-told-you-so'…and Dumbledore's got a letter from the Ministry of Magic and he's out-"

"I know. I went upstairs today to see him."

"Why?" Ron and Harry asked together.

"Oh." Dante scratched his head. "I needed lemon drops." He tried.

Ron and Harry now watched him with open suspicion.

Dante stared back. "What? I needed it. Dumbledore's always got his stack full. Snape made good on his threat to 'see the Headmaster' once. He dragged me to the office, and the old man and I struck up a friendship of sorts. Dumbledore said I could come back anytime."

Fortunately, for Dante, that was a believable story, and they bought it. Harry sighed. "At least Hermione's on Snape's tail."

And the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Hermione came in.

"I'm sorry, Harry!" she wailed. "Snape came out and asked me what I was doing, so I said I was waiting for Flitwick, and Snape went to get him, and I've only just got away, I don't know where Snape went."

"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" Harry said.

Dante stared at him. Harry was pale and his eyes were glittering. Was this the night, then?

"I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first." Harry finished in one breath.

"You're mad!" said Ron.

"You can't!" said Hermione. "After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!"

"SO WHAT?" Harry shouted. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor wins the House Cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?"

He glared at them. Dante suppressed the urge to smile. It was good to see the spark of fire in Harry's eyes, the one that said he was capable of fighting if it came to it.

It also meant that he had the elements necessary to become a rather cool guy one day.

"You're right, Harry," said Hermione finally, in a small voice

"I'll use the Invisibility Cloak," said Harry. "It's just lucky I got it back."

Dante didn't think so. It had to be Dumbledore. _He's staged the whole thing. Thanks a lot, Uncle Albus!_

"But will it cover all four of us?" said Ron.

"All — all four of us?"

"Oh, come off it, you don't think we'd let you go alone?

"Of course not," said Hermione briskly. "How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I'd better go and look through my books, there might be something useful…"

"But if we get caught, you three will be expelled, too."

"Not if I can help it," said Hermione grimly. "Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that."

Dante smiled at her. "Good for you." All traces of humor had vanished from his face. The truth of what was happening was finally dawning on him, and he did his best to hide the weakening in his knees. Quirrell didn't alarm him in the slightest, Vergil did. His brother knew Dumbledore was not in the school; this was the best chance he would get to make a grab for the Stone. Dante knew what he had to do. He knew who could help him with it. But he didn't enjoy it.

He looked at all three of them for a moment, fully aware he might not even see them again. But he had to take the chance. He nodded to himself, turned to go.

"Tony!" Hermione yelled after him, sounding scared. Dante realized he must've been acting very out of character. "What's wrong? Where are you going?"

"I got something I need to do. If I'm not back in time, go without me, I'll catch up."

"Where?" Hermione asked desperately, and Dante realized they would follow him if he didn't give an answer.

"I need to go to the centaurs." He answered truthfully, and all but ran off before they could ask another question. He clutched Rebellion tighter. The sword was vibrating slightly, or was it his own hand trembling?

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"You didn't see Vergil kill me, did you?" Dante asked him, desperately. (1)

Firenze shook his head, looking very conflicted.

"Then the stars don't really say no to this, right? One stab. You know it won't kill me. You said you set yourself against what is lurking in this forest. Well, how is Voldemort coming back worse than a son of Sparda going to the evil side with complete immortality? Voldemort's a human, for goodness' sake!"

Firenze looked down at the sword he was holding. "Yes." He said slowly. "I believe I should be able to follow through with-"

"Go on, then." Dante interrupted. "We're wasting time. You stargazer's probably don't give a damn about time, but we mere mortals do. Here, look," he circled a spot over his heart, "Here's your target. Don't screw this up."

Firenze raised the sword slowly. "Brace yourself." He told Dante, who had squeezed his eyes shut and was standing rigid. "Try to relax."

Dante let loose a humorless snort at the absurdity of the situation, but his shoulders did slump slightly.

"I think it will be better for you to lie down."

"Oh, no." Dante snapped his eyes open. "I'm not some virgin sacrifice to be killed at the alter or something. I'm standing."

A quiet sigh."Very well."

He kept his eyes closed even as he heard the sharp whoosh of blade cutting through air.

And then there was agony. A piercing pain erupted in his chest, and soon another similar sensation ravaged his back, making his whole torso explode with searing pain. Stars danced wildly in front of his eyes, and Dante realized vaguely that he was now on the ground. On instinct, he tried to move, only to send sheer agony shooting up and down his torso. It was no use anyway; he was immobile. The sword had rammed him through and embedded itself in the hard forest floor, pinning him in place. The pain was blinding, now spreading to his entire body, and he could barely register his own choked cry of pain as his own movements caused the sword to rip through still intact flesh. His hands tried to move up and grasp at the blade, but his limbs felt incredibly heavy and fell back to the ground. He heard his own strangled gasp as he tried, unsuccessfully, to take a breath. The world was dissolving into small specks of blackness in front of his eyes. He could see Firenze's worried face blurring over him as his pain slowly lessened to a dull, distant ache.

He was dying; and all Dante could think about was how horribly wrong it had gone.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Firenze watched the boy as he went limp. He was mostly silent; which was a relief because this would mean the whole process would not attract attention.

The Devil Trigger was taking a long time to unleash. The sword would have to be pulled out soon if he didn't want the boy to die. He had already lost more blood than it was safe to, even for demons.

And then, Dante's eyes snapped open, and Firenze leapt to the side to dodge the flying sword.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Power! Anger! Hunger!

He…who was he?...jumped to his feet in one smooth movement, feeling energy fuel his body. He struggled forward…Why couldn't he move faster? He had to spend his energy…yes, there was a tree…

He caught the sword as it fell from the sky and thrust it with all his might into the tree, and pulled. Yes, it felt good, but it wouldn't come out. Why wouldn't it come out? Because he didn't have enough…

POWER!

He suddenly felt a surge of energy unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was new, it was wonderful…

PAIN!

Oh god, was this much pain even possible? And a hoarse voice was screaming, whoever it was seemed badly hurt….did they hurt as much as he did? And then there was his energy, draining, draining…

All of his being seemed to leave his body in that moment, and his world faded to black.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Firenze laid the sword down onto the ground next to the ever-spreading pool of blood. He had already done more than centaurs should, he couldn't increase it by carrying the boy into the castle.

"You are a most remarkable creature." He said quietly. "Good luck, son of Sparda."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante woke with a dull ache in his chest. He tried to sit up, and noted, with considerable surprise, how incredibly weak he felt.

He put his palms flat against the ground and heaved himself up to a sitting position. His hands were resting in a warm puddle. Frowning, he lifted a hand and brought it in front of his face. It was slick with blood.

"Oh." He mouthed silently. He drew his knees up and pushed himself off the ground. A light shone directly into his eyes; he frowned and looked down. His robe was illuminated in the moonlight.

_Moonlight?!_

It was night then. Vergil had to be gone by now. And he was about half-kilometers inside the forest. He looked about and decided that the quickest way was over the treetops.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Do you suppose we should've told one of the professors?" Hermione asked, quietly, as they made their way to the room next to the Devil's snare.

"They'd expel him if they find him in the forest." Harry replied flatly.

"He's already broken more rules than Fred and George had managed in the entirety of their three years." muttered Ron. "Yeah, Harry's probably right."

"But if You-know-who is there….Tony may need help!"

Harry shook his head, trying to convince himself of his own words as he said, "Tony can handle himself. He's already done it once. Besides, we can't turn back unless we want Snape to get the stone."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante all but soared over the last of the trees and jumped down the fifteen feet to the ground flawlessly. His leaps had become much longer; and no height could cause him even bruises. He felt invincible. This half kilometer had taken only about a minute.

Dante ran into the castle and up the stairs in the entrance hall. He didn't even pause for breath as he came up to the first of the moving stairs. The first was pointed the exact opposite direction from where he wanted to go. He shrugged to himself and bent his knees to jump.

"Well, well, well."

Dante groaned as he heard the footsteps. "Not you again."

"Mr. Redgrave? Pray tell, what are you doing in the first floor at this time of the night?"

Dante's lips twitched. Snape needed a lesson. And he knew just the thing. This prat was going to get a serious shock.

"Judging by the fact that you're looking for the stairs, one would think that you were coming from the outside." The footsteps paused just behind Dante. "What reason could you have for being outside at this time of the night, Mr. Redgrave? Well, perhaps your head of House can extract that answer better…along with about, I say, a hundred points from Gryffindor and a one way ticket to the muggle world."

Dante grinned to himself and didn't move.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Snape snarled, and grabbed his shoulders and turned him around.

The Potions Master gasped and recoiled a second later. Dante grinned wider; he knew he looked like a zombie with his naturally pale face and eyes and the hole ripped through his robe. Not to mention the blood that covered him.

"Mr. Red-"

Dante transformed. It caused a sharp pain to shoot through him, but it was worth it. Snape barely stopped a cry; his eyes became wide as saucers and his jaw went slack, showing yellow teeth. Dante thought he'd need to send him a toothbrush and paste next Christmas.

"Bye, sir." He himself was astonished at the deep and feral voice that came from his throat. Snape pulled out his wand with a shaky hand and pointed it at his student. Dante looked up, and with a great leap, landed on the third floor stairs. He ran up to the corridor, reached the door in three seconds, transformed back to his normal self -delighted to see no blood on him anymore- and entered.

The huge eyes of the three-headed dog stared back at him. Dante shut his eyes and took a deep breath as he drew Rebellion. Now he really wished he hadn't given Snape a reason to come after him.

"I suppose there's no point in asking you to go back to sleep?" he asked meekly.

The dog stood straight, and growled. Dante thinned his lips. "No point at all." His eyes rested on the trapdoor. He didn't want to kill the thing; Hagrid would drown in his own tears. All he needed to do was reach the door under its paw.

**1: I know finding Firenze is really, really hard. I'll leave it up to you to fill in how Dante found him with your own imagination! I'm feeling really done in right now…exams, you know. **

**Really had to end the chapter there. I'm sure you can understand…The tasks will all come in the next chapter!**

**Reply to unsigned review(s):**

Crossover Junkie: You know, there is a line by Tagore that goes something like(this is an incredibly rough translation) this: the other side of the river always seems more beautiful. So yeah, I imagined your surroundings as perfect because I've never experienced it! As for the confrontation, you'll see a lot next chapter, so stay tuned! As for book two, by the time I finish this story, I'll let all the readers know, so stay tuned for that too!

qwertyuiop: Really? I had no idea….this is probably why people get their chapters beta'ed! Keep reading and even point out flaws if you want to!

**Let me know your thoughts!**


	11. Paving the way: Trials and errors

**Thanks to demon19027, slayst and zeb97 for favoriting and again zeb97 and Akuma Kuro(are you a street fighter fan? I got very involved in that a few days earlier) for following!**

**Sorry about the delay. In our country, the weekends consist of the two days Friday and Saturday, with students only getting the Friday off. So, I don't have classes today, and here you are! Loads of action, but shorter than usual, again!**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue.**

**Where we left off:**

_The huge eyes of the three-headed dog stared back at him. Dante shut his eyes and took a deep breath as he drew Rebellion. Now he really wished he hadn't given Snape a reason to come after him._

"_I suppose there's no point in asking you to go back to sleep?" he asked meekly._

_The dog stood straight, and growled. Dante thinned his lips. "No point at all." His eyes rested on the trapdoor. He didn't want to kill the thing; Hagrid would drown in his own tears. All he needed to do was reach the door under its paw._

**Here we go!**

Chapter 10

Fluffy growled again, and Dante ducked under the first swipe of the front leg. He rolled out of the way of the head that came his way, and was up on his feet in the same movement while simultaneously swiping with his sword. The blade caught the head in the jaw, prompting another thunderous growl. Dante back-flipped to avoid the second head, and saw the shadow of the third one's jaws too late. He had just about enough time to move inside its mouth before the jaws slammed shut and darkness descended all around.

Dante sighed, and thrust Rebellion into its tongue, impaling the flesh. Fluffy howled in agony, and Dante was blown right through its open mouth. He stared down at the saliva covering him, wrinkling his nose as he did. "Ew. Well, I don't suppose they keep toothbrushes matching your size. Not that everyone uses toothbrush anyway, just look at Snape!"

The dog pounced. Dante jumped aside and made a run for the trapdoor, only pausing as he heard a cry.

_Snape. He's followed me! Shit._

He pivoted on his feet and saw Snape throw a jet of fire towards the dog while holding his left hand cradled against his body. Dante swore out loud and slashed at the paw closest to him. Two heads were immediately turned towards him. Dante placed his feet on a nose and rose in mid-air, and swung his sword at the third head. For the first time in his life, he got a complete arc in the air and blood spurted from the eyes. Two eyes were gone!

Dante would've whooped, had there not been a human standing behind him, totally unprotected, at the very moment.

"Get out of here, sir!" he yelled, even as his feet found solid ground again. Fluffy was now madly howling, swiping with its paws, heads swishing back and forth.

"What are you doing here?" Snape hissed back.

"Quirrell's gone in." Dante called back, backing away to shield his professor while keeping his eyes open for incoming teeth. "I need to get to him." He rolled to the side to avoid a head that was completely intact, only to find himself in front of the second one's open jaws.

Snape yelled, 'Sectumsempra!' and blood began to gush from that head. It moved away from Dante and, with astonishing speed, latched onto Snape's wand hand with its teeth. Dante leaped in the air, crossed the short distance between himself and his teacher in mid-air, and kept his blade horizontal and the sharp edge point downward as he fell, channeling red energy into it and putting as much force into his fall as he could. Rebellion was brought down straight onto the neck of the second head, the combined force of demonic energy and gravity cutting the head clean off.

Snape pried off the limp jaws at the same time Dante gripped his sword handle and threw himself at his professor, landing them both into a corner of the room. Keeping himself on top of Snape, who seemed to be rather dazed with pain, he turned his head to watch Fluffy's position. The dog, with only two heads and eyes, seemed more ferocious than ever, tugging at its chains, falling just short of reaching Dante in the corner. The eleven years old decided to take advantage of Snape's momentary confusion. He lifted the man over a shoulder and ran out the door, not even sparing a glance to Snape's wand that was still lying on the floor. He set the older man down on the floor outside and went back in. Taking a breath, he charged his sword, waiting until it glowed red, and then jumped up to hit the stone wall just over the doorway. The stones were cut neatly in half and they fell, shaking up the whole room as they did, right in front of the door, barricading it completely.

Smiling, Dante dashed forward, between the first two paws, under the blind head, and in front of the trapdoor. It was already open, and he jumped, grabbing the handle as he did to pull the door closed. The trapdoor slammed shut and then he was falling.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Severus Snape got to his feet, gritting his teeth against the pain searing through both of his hands. He eyed the stones in front of him. There was no way he could get through that, not without his wand, which was still inside the room.

Cradling his hands against his chest, he set off at a jogged pace. Professor Dumbledore needed to be informed, immediately. If Dante Sparda had known about Quirrell and was going in through the trapdoor, it was likely that the stone was about to be stolen tonight, by either one of the twins or the DADA professor.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante landed on something soft. He pressed at it. It seemed to be some sort of herb. Shrugging, he stood up, and made to walk, only to feel his feet rooted to the ground by some sort of restraint.

Dante slashed aimlessly with his sword, and soon he was free. He jumped off the soft thing, and made for the passage opposite. It was now obvious he'd have to face a series of trials.

He could hardly wait.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

He walked to the end of the passage and stepped through the doorway. He looked around. It was a spacious, brilliantly lit room. There was a swishing and clinking sound that filled the space. Dante looked up, and saw hundreds- or thousands- of keys with wings. He looked at the locked door opposite, and then to the broomstick set aside that looked like it had been just used and dumped.

"Ah-ha." he murmured, catching on. "Looks like a bit of Quidditch demonstration is in order. Too bad Hermione didn't stick around."

He narrowed his eyes as he watched the keys. They all looked rather alike- except one that was completely missing a wing and just barely flying.

"Oh." Dante smirked and mounted his broom. "Let's set a record!"

The key dodged him when he rocketed upwards. He turned around his broom with lightning speed and dived, the key went left-Dante sent his broom shooting after it to his left and jumped to his right-the key dodged both and shot downwards-Dante pulled out his sword and threw it, nailing the key to the floor.

He snorted. "Three seconds. That's gotta be a record. I'll just compare with Vergil- Harry's not going to come even close."

He inserted the key into the lock and entered the next room.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

It was dark. Dante squinted; he could see large, strange shapes, but the light was too dim to make anything else out. He gripped his sword and stepped forward.

"Hello?" he called cautiously.

"Tony!" the reply came. Dante startled, he hadn't expected a response, much less in a familiar voice.

"Hermione?"

The room illuminated very slowly. He frowned at the destruction around the room. The floor he was standing on seemed to be some sort of chessboard. Pieces lay just to the sides of the board, both blacks and whites, but 32 new pieces were silently waiting on the board, completely ready to play.

At the opposite side of the room was a double set of doors. Dante bit his lip, he was terrible at chess. Maybe Hermione could help…

His eyes came to rest on the disheveled girl sitting beside the board. He strode forward to meet her, only to stop short as he saw the motionless form next to Hermione.

"Is that Ron?" he asked, running forward to kneel next to his friend. "What happened?"

Hermione pushed her hair roughly back from her face. Dante saw her lips trembling. "The three of us had to replace some of the pieces to play the game. He won the game, but he had to sacrifice himself. And Harry…Harry's gone after Professor Snape."

Dante was silent for a moment. "Is he okay?" Dante gestured to Ron.

"Yeah, just knocked out." Hermione answered. Dante felt a tiny flash of amusement at Hermione's style of speech. Usually she never talked that way.

"And you saw no one else?"

"No." she frowned. "Why?"

Dante didn't know if he should be pleased or afraid at the news. It could mean two things: Either Vergil hadn't gone in yet or he had gone in even before Harry did. He didn't know which one it was, but he did know that he had to act.

"Nothing." Dante answered Hermione, and stood up. "I gotta go."

"You're atrocious at chess!" Hermione protested.

"Who says I have to play? You see if you can wake Ron. If you can, get out of here."

Hermione stared at him, wide-eyed. "You're not going to…No, Tony, don't-"

But Dante was already moving forward, drawing his sword as he did so. He walked straight towards the row of white statues. The moment his foot crossed the midway line of the board, the pawns in the front row crossed their swords with one another with a loud metallic clang.(1)

Dante faltered for a split second. The swords were broad, but sharp. He could see the shiny tips. Besides, he had no doubt the castles, knights, bishops and the queen would attack him as well. Was he really good enough to hold off 16 moving statues of stone?

Before his devil trigger had unleashed, Dante would've admitted, if only to himself, that the answer was no. But now….he most definitely had a chance. He wasn't sure, but he knew he had to try. At least he had the strength to cut through stone now. He had proved that in Fluffy's room.

So he plastered a cocky smile on his face and plunged into the fray.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante locked his blade with the pawn's on D7. He slashed diagonally, which the pawn blocked with one sword, and Dante quickly brought up his arm to stop the swish the pawn took at him with its other sword. Gritting his teeth a bit as the blade sliced at his arm, he ducked under the two crossed swords and brought up Rebellion in a vertical slash that cut the piece from bottom to top. The two severed sides crashed to the floor in opposite directions, and he was left staring at the queen on D8.

He quickly jumped to evade the thrust the piece took at him with its sword. He brought down Rebellion onto the thing's head and grinned as the head was cut in half. His amusement was short-lived though, as the queen shook off the head from its shoulders and backhanded him across the chest.

Dante was flung backwards into the black knight, who reared up and kicked him in the stomach. Dante landed in the middle of the board and grimaced as he tasted blood. Somewhere to his right, Hermione was screaming his name.

"STILL here." he muttered to himself, and pushed himself up to face the white queen, simultaneously pouring energy into his sword, which began to glow. This time, when she raised her weapon, he raised his own blade and cut hers in half. Without giving her time to retaliate, he drove Rebellion through her mail and separated her upper body from her lower one. He stepped back from the two now unmoving parts and looked around himself. All around him were the white and dark pieces, standing in a circle, staring at him in silent foreboding.

Dante peered under the white knight's legs to see the door. He grinned to himself.

"Any obstacles I should know about?" he yelled to Hermione.

"Yes!" she cried. "When you go to the potion room, drink the potion from the smallest bottle!"

"Got it!"

He ran forward, and, using the white queen's parts as stairs, made the jump to the crown on the king's head. From there, he had an unrestricted view of the door. But before he could take a step towards it, the king flung off his crown, and Dante with it, right into the middle of the circle.

Dante landed smoothly on his feet, and faced the oncoming cavalry. The dark and white kings were coming just in front of him, the white one in front of the black. An idea began to form. He began channeling his power into his sword. Rebellion pulsed beneath his hands, and Dante realized it would need a bit more time to gather the required energy. He would need to buy it some.

"Talk about going around in circles..." he taunted them. "Really, how many of you do I have to kill before you get that I'm invincible?"

The energy flowed from his hand into his sword. Rebellion was now practically vibrating, light swirling around it.

They edged closer.

"Fine!" Dante yelled, and slammed the sword into the ground, setting the shockwaves in motion. He slammed it again. And again, and watched as the wave went forward in a straight line beneath the board.

"EAT THAT!"

The two kings were shattered by the red energy. The white crown flew through the air, and Dante, being Dante, placed himself just where it would fall. Air stirred his hair slightly as the crown perched on his head perfectly. All around him, the pieces began to disappear.

He rested the tip of his pulsing red sword on the ground, head held high and shoulders squared, and grinned at Hermione. "How about that?"

She was staring open-mouthed. "Wow, Tony…your powers increased!"

"Didn't it? Look at this!" Dante threw Rebellion to the farthest corner of the room and watched as it smashed through a pile of broken pieces besides the board, shattering the stones like so many glass shards. He called it back, gave it a shake, and returned it to its spot on his back.

He smirked at Hermione, who looked stunned. "Yeah, now that's what-"

"Oh God, you didn't." she whispered.

"What? I-" Dante stopped short. "Oh."

His devil trigger. Well, of course she would figure it out, she was Hermione Granger, he thought with a scowl. He had asked his friends to do it, and now his powers had suddenly increased. The connection would be obvious to her.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did." He glanced down at his robe to see if the hole over his chest had remained, but the cloth was as smooth as ever. He could only guess that it had returned to its original state when he had DT-ed and un-DT-ed, as he had begun calling them.

"You could've died." Her voice seemed accusing.

"I didn't." Dante defended.

"But you could've!"

"Hey, I-" Dante was interrupted by her launching herself at him.

Only his demonic balances prevented him from staggering back. He glanced down at the mop of bushy hair buried in his neck as he embraced her tentatively, feeling awkward to say the least.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She pulled back, with an effort, and he could see she was struggling not to cry. "It's just….first Ron, then Harry, now you…all of you nearly died tonight, all for the same reason…and who knows what Harry's going through…and I can't watch any more of this." She took a deep breath, seemingly to compose herself. "You be really careful, Tony, and bring Harry back."

Dante stared at her in amazement. "You know, you've really matured. Yesterday, I would've bet five pounds that you'll break down in a situation like this."

She smiled slightly, but her lip was trembling. "Someone has to mature, obviously."

Dante laughed, feeling the tension ease slightly.

"-and I kind of freaked Harry out." She admitted. "When I started babbling earlier."

"Yeah. Speaking of Harry….I gotta go. You said the smallest bottle?"

"Yeah, it's a puzzle. You need to find the bottle that lets you move forward amongst the seven bottles that will be on the table in the middle of the room. There are four clues: the no. 4 and 3 combined will tell you which-"

Dante coughed. "Hermione. I'm kinda short on time here."

"Oh!" she gasped. "Go on, then."

"Take care." Dante said, and walked to the door.

"Be careful!" she called after him. "And Tony, show me your devil form sometimes?"

Dante turned at the door, and transformed.

He got his first glimpse of Hermione's steely nerve when she didn't even flinch, but simply stared in amazement and then breathed, "Just like the book! It's brilliant, Tony!"

Dante let the door shut behind him, wondering if she would ever know how much strength she had given him just by accepting him as he was.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

He walked down the next passage and through the door. He eyed the dead troll that lay in front of him and decided it wasn't Yamato that struck the blow. He frowned slightly and proceeded to the puzzle room. He stepped inside, watching the two doorways being engulfed by purple and black flames as he did so.

As Hermione had said, seven bottles were on a table in the center of the room. The paper lay beside the last bottle to the left. He didn't bother picking it up, instead he selected the second bottle from the left, the smallest one, and drowned it.

It wasn't too bad, he supposed. The taste was unfamiliar, though.

He walked to the doorway in front of him. He stuck his left pinkie in the black fire experimentally, wondering if it would feel any different from normal temperature.

The finger sizzled, and blackened.

Dante cried out in pain and surprise, pulling back his finger as quickly as he could. He held it in front of his face. The nails were already gone; black specks dotted the skin and flesh, spreading already, though very slowly. There was no sign of healing. Even his demonic abilities seemed slow to work in the face of this unknown threat; Snape sure knew what he was doing, he thought bitterly.

There was no other way. He'd have to solve the puzzle.(**2**)

Still breathing fast from the shock of the pain, he went to pick up the parchment and scanned it. His brow furrowed. It read:

_Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind, _

_Two of us will help you, whichever you would find, _

_One among us seven will let you move ahead, _

_Another will transport the drinker back instead, _

_Two among our number hold only nettle wine, _

_Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line. _

_Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore, _

_To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four: _

_First, however slyly the poison tries to hide _

_You will always find some on nettle wine's right side; _

_Second, different are those who stand at either end, _

_But if you would move onward, neither is your friend; _

_Third, as you see clearly, all are different size, _

_Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides; _

_Fourth, the second left and the second on the right _

_Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight._

Of the seven bottles, none of them were alike. But the second bottle from the left was the smallest, of course, and the largest was the third from the right.(3)

That made it the dwarf and giant, then. Dante bit his lip, thinking. Now he wished he had brought Hermione with him.

Speaking of her...

Her voice echoed through his mind.

"_There are four clues: the no. 4 and 3 combined will tell you which-"_

It had felt like rambling at the time, but now it seemed like the sweetest words in all Europe and America.

He bent over the parchment with urgency, reading over the two clues. He paused, thinking.

Both the second left and the second right were the same substance. It couldn't be the move backward or forward potion then. But it couldn't have been the poison either, because even if he had drank the poison and it didn't affect his demonic constitution-and he doubted that as the fire damaged him-it was already written that the second from the left-the dwarf-didn't have death in its inside; meaning it wasn't poison.

Then they were both wines.

Going by the first rule that the wine bottles would always have a poison bottle to its right, he marked the farthest right one and the third from the left as poisons.

Now opening grinning, Dante read over the clues again. He had found out the right side bottle already, but he had to figure out the left. It couldn't have been poison as the two sides were supposed to have different potions; and it couldn't have been wine as the two wines were already spotted, and it couldn't have been the 'move forward' potion because the second clue had said so.

It was the 'move backward' potion.

That left only two more to identify. The third from the right and the middle one.

But the largest bottle was the third one from the right. And, according to the third rule, the largest one didn't have poison inside.

So that marked the middle one as the last poison bottle, and the third from the right, the largest bottle, as-

"The move forward potion!" Dante snatched it up, grinning. "Found you, sweetie!"

He checked his solution once, and then tipped the bottle down his throat.

A cold sensation shot through his body, as if it was being engulfed in ice. Dante faced the black flames and swallowed, remembering the scorching heat that had burned his finger. He forced himself to shrug to lighten his own mood, and squaring his shoulders, walked straight through the flames. He didn't feel anything, like they weren't even there.

He smiled to himself. It was official: he was going to kiss Hermione.(4)

And then he heard a voice that sent shivers down his spine before he could help it.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The room he was seeing was circular in shape, with an arched ceiling that was at least 40 feet above his own head. At the middle of the room was the Mirror of Erised.

Near the stairs, Harry was grappling with Quirrell, who was sitting on top of the boy and clutching Harry's neck. As Dante ran towards them, he watched, bewildered, as the professor let go of Harry's throat and stared at his hands which were blistering red.

"Master, I cannot hold him, my hands, my hands!"

The voice he had heard earlier hissed, "Then kill him, fool, and be done!"

Dante frowned for a moment. Was this the moment when he was supposed to sit back and let Harry face Voldemort?

A scream of agony from Harry as he latched onto Quirrell's arm, and both began screaming.

Well, his great-uncle had to be delusional if he thought that would happen.

He dived and knocked Quirrell clean off his feet, rolling to a stop some few meters away. He heard a heavy thud behind him. Glancing once, he saw Harry slumped on the ground. Dante and Quirrell both got to their feet, Dante making a sweeping motion with his finger.

"Kindly turn around, sir." He said. "I'd like a look at this dangerous Dark Arts specimen. This does come under your subject? I gotta say, the classroom's rather creepy, and the way here is rather dangerous, though nice of you to provide a mirror to fix our appearances. Only it's no good for that, is it?"

"The son of Sparda." hissed Voldemort. Dante could tell he was angry. He didn't even imagine getting a Dark Lord riled up would be so easy. "This has nothing to do with you. Stand aside."

"Not so fast, oldy Voldy." Dante grinned, and Voldemort let out a snarl.

"Kill him!" he cried. Quirrell, gasping as he held his wand in his burned hands, pointed the tip at his target and sent a jet of red light.

Dante dodged easily, smiling. "That all you got?" he ducked under another. "And you call yourself-" another jump, "A DADA professor?"

Quirrell sent a violet jet at him. Dante went to dodge, but suddenly froze in place when he realized that he was standing between the spell and Harry. He pulled Rebellion up to deflect it, but wasn't quick enough. His vision blackened for a fraction of second as fiery pain shot through his chest and seemingly all the way to his back. His body was thrown back to Harry, landing on top of the smaller boy, blinking to clear the specs out of his vision.

Groaning, he stood, but Voldemort, it seemed, had found his weakness. Quirrell sent another spell at Harry, and Dante, already shielding the boy, held his sword in front of him, for lack of a better shield for himself.

The force that jolted Rebellion sent him back to the wall. He winced as he pushed himself up, and heard Quirrell scream, "Avada Kedavra!"

He dodged the green beam of light that came his way. Then he did the only thing he could think of under the circumstances: he DT'ed.

Quirrell looked stunned for a moment, and Dante, using his newfound speed, ran up to him and slammed Rebellion's hilt into his professor's already charred wand arm.

Quirrell screamed, covering his arm with his other hand, reflexively. Dante, with a soft snort, lifted his fist and brought it down onto his teacher's neck. He caught the unconscious man and lowered him to the floor on his back so that his face didn't touch the floor.

His DT diminished, and he let out a heavy sigh. "Sorry about this." he muttered. "Maybe Uncle Albus knows how to free you. Hang in there."

But Voldemort had other plans, it seemed. Quirrell's body began to shudder, and smoke started coming out of his mouth and nose at a rapid rate.

Dante moved aside quickly, staring at the haze and wondering what he was supposed to do. As he watched, the smoke ceased to come out, and a face took shape amongst the haze. A sinking feeling formed in Dante's gut and his gaze snapped down to his professor. The man was dreadfully still, face pale, eyes open and vacant. He had seen that look before.

Professor Quirrell was dead.

With a cry of rage, he struck out at the smoky figure with his sword. The smokes simply glided through the blade and towards the doorway, finally vanishing out of sight.

Dante slowly knelt down by the body. He swallowed as he closed Quirrell's eyes, bowing his head over the body.(5) Then he turned back towards Harry, suddenly remembering something important.

Where was Vergil? Was he even coming?

Well, if he didn't, no one would be more grateful than Dante. He crouched beside the black-haired boy and shook him slightly.

"Harry? Hey, Harry, wake up."

He didn't. Dante sighed and lifted his friend up in his arms, one under his knees and the other under his back. Something hard brushed his left hand from where it rested against Harry's thigh.

He lowered Harry gently to the ground and fumbled in the pocket. His fingers brushed against a cool, smooth surface. He gripped the thing and pulled it out.

He was looking at a shimmering red stone. The Sorcerer's Stone.

It was fragile, he could tell just by feeling it. He carefully slipped it into his breast pocket and picked Harry up again. Harry's head lolled lifelessly on his shoulder and Dante knew he had to hurry.

He had not taken more than a few steps when the flames sizzled.

**Uh-oh! Another cliffie! Guess who's coming to dinner?**

**Next up: The twins have their final showdown!**

**Reply to unsigned review(s):**

qwertyuiop: Thank you, thank you! That DT scene is rather special to me. Keep reading and reviewing!

Crossover Junkie: Lol! He is, isn't he? Maybe that's why I love him so much!

natiyuu: Hi there! Here, a shiny new chapter for you! XD I do update weekly, and God willing, I'll continue to! :-)

Guest: I wish you had continued. If you did, maybe you would have found that Dante and Vergil really didn't have their powers diminished. Well, maybe they are weaker, but surely they can be excused, they are still children, right? That said, of course it's up to you whether you choose to read something or not, and I respect the fact that you at least have let me know why you dropped it!

**Please let me know your thoughts!**


	12. Showtime

**Thanks to duke drake, GG7989, war sage, KazejinPhoenix and Drakon45 for favoriting and again duke drake, Random Person 94, war sage, KazejinPhoenix, trublod, Drakon45 and Raenyx for following!**

**I'm considering moving my updates to Thursday. I mean, it really is better than Wednesday for me…So you'll probably find the next chapter up next Thursday, too!**

**Here we are, the final fight! I'm rather worried about this one, actually, but I don't see any way to improve this, so….yeah. It's uploaded, so you can decide for yourselves if you like it! And advices are love!**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue.**

**Where we left off:**

_Where was Vergil? Was he even coming?_

_Well, if he didn't, no one would be more grateful than Dante. He crouched beside the black-haired boy and shook him slightly._

"_Harry? Hey, Harry, wake up."_

_He didn't. Dante sighed and lifted his friend up in his arms, one under his knees and the other under his back. Something hard brushed his left hand from where it rested against Harry's thigh._

_He lowered Harry gently to the ground and fumbled in the pocket. His fingers brushed against a cool, smooth surface. He gripped the thing and pulled it out._

_He was looking at a shimmering red stone. The Sorcerer's Stone._

_It was fragile, he could tell just by feeling it. He carefully slipped it into his breast pocket and picked Harry up again. Harry's head lolled lifelessly on his shoulder and Dante knew he had to hurry._

_He had not taken more than a few steps when the flames sizzled._

Chapter 11

Dante sighed heavily and started for a corner of the room, his arms tightening protectively around his friend as he saw Vergil step through the flames. One hand reached up to push white hair back, the other went to Yamato's hilt.

"Dante." Vergil stated unnecessarily.

"Just give me a moment here." Dante called, kneeling to put Harry down beside the wall. "Be right with you." He frowned in slight thought, and quietly slipped the stone back into Harry's pocket. Just in case.

"So," he said as he stepped forward to meet his brother. "What're you doing here again?"

"You're not as much of a fool as you lead everyone to believe, brother." Vergil answered. "You were intelligent enough to solve the puzzle in the other room. You know why I'm here."

"How did you get past the puzzle anyway?"

"You were good enough to write down the contents of each bottle on the table with your nails. I just had to change a few labels- that saved me a lot of time."

Dante lifted a brow in surprise. "But I didn't get anything wrong- oh- so that's why Hermione was wrong!"

"The potions rearrange themselves." Vergil said, smirking. "Quite possibly, the clues change as well. But there were actually few changes, so thank you, brother, you have been a big help."

"Figures." Dante scowled.

Vergil slowly, deliberately pulled out Yamato from its sheath. "So….that brings us to…The stone."

"Didn't figure you one to go berserk over jewelry."

"The. Stone." Vergil repeated. "Give it to me."

Dante shrugged, and drew Rebellion. "Come and get it, bro!"

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Yamato met Rebellion with a metallic clang, sparks flowing off. They both pulled back, Dante leaning to the side to avoid the downward slash that Vergil was attempting while he swung his sword at Vergil's head. Vergil stopped his downward thrust in favor of parrying the sword only inches from his face. Dante pressed at Yamato, looking for an advantage. Vergil blinked once in surprise as he pushed back. Dante could guess why; he felt much stronger and Vergil must've felt it too.

The lock broke when Vergil kicked at Dante's legs, forcing him to roll aside in order to keep on his feet. He managed another slash at Vergil's leg as he did so, and a grunt told him he'd found his target alright.

Smirking, he got to his feet, and waited for Vergil to do so as well. Vergil pulled himself up with the slightest of efforts, his leg already on the way to healing.

"Your strengths have increased." he said.

"I read up on the DT thing." Dante replied by way of explanation. "So who unleashed your trigger?"

Vergil's eyes suddenly flashed, and he lunged forward. Dante was equal to it though, and met the charge by bringing up his own sword. Vergil turned his sword and aimed the next slash at Dante's chest. The younger twin blocked that and aimed one at Vergil's right shoulder. That was also blocked. Dante threw another, Vergil blocked. Vergil swiped again, and Dante blocked it. The pattern continued for some time, during which swords flew so fast that to a mortal eye, the clashes would seem like so many fireworks.

Then Vergil found an opening, and knocked Dante's sword out of his hands.

But the event of last time didn't happen, as Dante managed to snatch the sword out of the air immediately. But the small lapse cost him, as Vergil's next blow cut into his left shoulder. Dante retaliated immediately, and blood welled up on the newfound cut in Vergil's arm.

The two of them paused for a moment, but didn't take their eyes off each other.

"The same demons that slaughtered the group of mercenaries I found home with." Vergil answered at last.

Dante had never wanted to fight his brother like this in the first place, but the confession made it so much harder.

Vergil rushed forward again, but Dante simply grabbed Yamato's flat sides with both hands, grimacing at the strain.

"We don't have to do this, you know." he said. "Immortality won't make you like father, it'll only make sure you don't die from old age."

"Obviously you don't know anything about the stone you're fighting for right now." Vergil retorted, his sword twisting in his brother's grip to cut into Dante's hand. "Why do you think Voldemort wanted this stone? For simple soul sustaining? No, _little brother, _it's because the stone have more uses, power beyond what you can imagine. I can get that power, and I can unleash the ultimate weapon and overthrow the Underworld!"(1)

Dante gritted his teeth as Vergil continued to twist the sword, and then released the sword and stumbled back when Vergil's words took shape in his brain.

"You want to get into the Underworld? You want to break father's seal? Vergil, are you mad or just roaring drunk?"

Vergil looked furious. "DON'T WASTE TIME!" he bellowed, and then they were back to it, their swords a blur as the blades clashed again and again.

And then Dante managed to take advantage when Vergil slashed at his shoulder and he ducked and landed a hit across Vergil's ankles. Vergil was thrown off guard for a moment, and Dante realized his chest was vulnerable. But, unable to stab him in there for fear of a fatal hit, he simply used the hilt of Rebellion to knock him away. Vergil turned in mid-air and sent a couple of summoned swords at Dante, who cut through the frozen things with Rebellion. Vergil landed on the balls of his feet, and glared at Dante for a moment.

Then he charged. Dante jumped up, and brought his sword down onto Vergil's shoulder, whose forward momentum ensured the blow hit him. Vergil hissed but didn't step back, instead he used the sheath to hit Dante on the face before following it up with a horizontal sweep. Dante took the hit to the face, but held his sword vertical and blocked the blow with the sword. He kicked at Vergil's leg, who jumped back and threw a couple of summoned swords. Dante slashed through them, and Vergil rushed forward to meet Rebellion. The blades clanged off each other, and the slash-and-parry game started again. The climax of it came when Dante used a flurry of sword attacks, about a dozen per second, all of which was blocked over and over until the last move placed them in a deadlock.

They both put all their strengths into their swords, and then Dante pushed his sword up and sent Vergil's flying out of his hands. He didn't stop, but rather used both his legs to catch Vergil in the face. His brother was airborne, but Dante didn't wait for his landing. He leapt after him and, still in mid-air, ran Vergil clean through the shoulder and brought both of them down using his momentum. He pinned Vergil to the floor with Rebellion.

He exhaled softly. "Give up, brother?"

A flash, and then both Dante and Rebellion were thrown away. Vergil's transformed form stood up, his katana in hand.

"You are not even worthy of being my opponent." The deep, feral voice responded, and summoned swords started to circle him. Dante threw Rebellion towards him, but the sword deflected harmlessly off of the frozen blades. Dante caught Rebellion when it came back and readied himself as he saw Vergil circling the swords faster and faster. He saw the swords come at him, and ducked under the first, jumped to avoid the second, dashed left for the third and cut the remaining ones.

And then the triggered Vergil's sword came down on his neck, and Dante just barely moved away before it could separate his head from his body. He had no time to think of the close shave as Vergil delivered a roundhouse kick to his abdomen and swiftly drew his sword and swiped it across his shoulder. Dante avoided the last move by jumping, but Vergil gripped Yamato and concentrated for a second. A blue orb formed around Dante, who immediately knew this was bad news. He couldn't move out of it, and then he saw a white cross form and felt like two swords had cut through him from both shoulders to waist. He fell to the floor, gasping, and saw Vergil's DT form come to normal, and he exhaled as if taking a brief break.

Dante would see about that. He triggered.

Before Vergil had collected himself, Dante had slashed him through twice. He finished the move by a flourish that went through Vergil's right arm, making him nearly drop Yamato. Vergil quickly recovered though, and sent a jab at his midsection. Dante was pleased to see the shock on Vergil's face when he took the hit but didn't even slow down. Dante followed after Vergil when he stepped back, going on the offensive easily. Vergil blocked the rest of the attacks, though Dante could see it took some effort.

His form diminished when he was in the air. He landed smoothly and locked eyes with his brother. They were both breathing hard.

"Now this is getting interesting." Vergil said.

"About time, too!" Dante answered.

A soft moan caught his attention. He glanced back to see Harry's brow scrunched, but he didn't show any sign of waking.

"Let's make this fast." he said.

Vergil ran forward, triggering as he did so. Dante focused on dodging, intent on making his own energy last until Vergil had exhausted his. He blocked a thrust from Yamato and dashed to the middle of the circular room. Vergil gripped Yamato and sent one of those blue orbs at him. This time, Dante was ready, and rolled out of the way. He jumped when Vergil unleashed a ground attack, but Vergil appeared out of seemingly thin air and kicked him in the face, then did a downward slash that sliced through Dante's shoulder. Dante winced and back-flipped, getting an arc of Rebellion in mid-air that he aimed at blocking Vergil's next blow, and came down to the ground to see Vergil transformed and looking tired-again. Dante rushed to him, and one hit from Rebellion's hilt sent him flying to the other side of the room. Dante tricked himself over to stand in front of him-

And felt a stabbing pain shoot through his stomach. He saw Vergil's eyes widen as well before they became triumphant. Looking down, he saw Yamato buried up to its hilt in his stomach. The sword had been extended in front of Vergil when Dante teleported the short distance, and he had impaled himself on it.

"This was not the way I wanted this fight to end: by accident." Vergil said coldly. "But it does save time." His eyes narrowed, and he twisted the sword. Dante grunted in pain. "Where is the stone?"

Dante raised both eyebrows in response. The effect was somewhat diminished because of the loud, desperate efforts at breathing without causing too much pain, but it still got the message across.

"Fair enough." Vergil responded.

He twisted the sword again, eliciting a gasp from Dante, before he pulled the sword out and let him fall to the floor. Vergil collected Rebellion from where it was on the floor, and pinned Dante's shoulder to the floor with it. He knelt and searched the robe pockets. The frustration was evident on his face when he stood.

He looked around the room for a few moments and then smiled and started for Harry.

Through a haze, Dante saw the blue blur approach the black blur. He blinked, and then blinked again, to clear his vision. When it took proper shape, he saw Vergil kneeling to search Harry's pockets.

His mind raced. He could probably pull Rebellion out if he tried hard enough, but that would alert Vergil to his efforts, who would come back and make sure Dante wasn't in a position to stand. He could trigger, but that took some energy to do, energy he simply wouldn't be able to gather in time. He shifted a bit, and he felt his wand shift against his leg.

His eyes shot wide.

Slowly, he reached inside his pocket.

Vergil took up the stone almost reverently, and gazed inside the red crystal. He opened his right palm and set the stone in the middle of it, smiling as he thought of the possibilities.

He readied Yamato and began to lift the stone slowly, purposefully, towards his lips, intent on making Dante watch him cutting through the crystal and drinking the elixir.

And then a cry shattered the silence.

"Reducto!"

A jet of blue light, and the stone shattered into a thousand pieces, and the liquid inside fell to the floor and rolled in every direction for a few moments before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Vergil stood still for a few seconds, and then let out a roar as he turned to Dante, fully intent on giving his brother his just deserts.

But a red flash enveloped the place where Dante was lying, and it diminished to show Dante transformed, Rebellion flying out of his shoulder. Dante jumped up and caught the sword, changing back a moment later. He looked tired, but also triumphant, his lips curling into a smile as he looked into identical pair of eyes.

"There and back again." he said, his sword flashing red.

"You are going to pay for that." Vergil murmured.

"Cliché, brother." Dante answered. "You're losing your touch."

Vergil's eyes glittered. "Nothing's a cliché when it's happening to you, as you'll soon find out!"

They both charged back into the fray, and Vergil triggered again. This time, he sent the whole room vibrating as dozens of orbs began appearing everywhere, slashing through whatever stood in their way. Dante, suddenly conscious of Harry, tricked himself over and quickly grabbed the boy, holding him close and jumping and dashing and rolling to avoid the attacks while simultaneously trying to find Vergil. One such attack sent the mirror of Erised tumbling to the ground, where it promptly broke. Dante realized Vergil couldn't be seen anywhere and just focused on moving.

Eventually, the orbs finished appearing, and Vergil appeared, breathing fast. Dante lowered Harry and attacked with renewed vigor. Vergil was growing steadily weaker, he could tell. Vergil finally blocked a couple of his attacks, and shoved Dante away and caught his breath. Dante didn't move this time, waiting for Vergil to make his move.

They exchanged a couple more thrusts and parry, but then Dante transformed, and so did Vergil. At the same time.

Dante felt energy surge and Rebellion pulse when they attacked each other. They were both knocked off balance in surprise at the power their swords emitted on impact. The two brothers skidded on the floor for a couple of feet and stood up.

Now a few feet away, their pupil-less eyes met each other and a silent agreement passed.

They both ran towards each other, and the swords locked. Immediately, the swords started vibrating, and sparks flew off, red and blue. They both poured all their energies into their blades. It was as if nothing mattered except winning this battle of might.

Yamato whined in a metallic way as it strained against its brother sword. Rebellion vibrated as fiercely as it had ever done. Their masters, united with their swords, strained to overthrow the other.

Vergil's hands were shaking, and Dante could feel the weariness from before start to come back. He knew he couldn't hold his DT for much longer. Indeed, even as he thought it, his knees started to shake, and it was only the thought of his friend, motionless and helpless behind him, which gave him the strength to push one last time with all the strength he had.

And it sent Vergil all the way back to the opposite wall, instantly back in his human form, breathing heavily as he fell to the floor and remained there on his hands and knees. It was to his credit that he hadn't let go of Yamato.

Dante changed as well, but he felt refreshed, like he could go on for much more.

"Is that all you got?" he called. "C'mon, get up! You can do better than that!"

Vergil stood, with much effort. Dante smirked to himself, and prepared to give the final blow.

Then Vergil's eyes fell closed for a second, and he swayed alarmingly.

Dante stared at him for a moment, and then suddenly, what he was doing hit him full in the face.

He was fighting his brother. For a just cause, probably. But that cause was now over and done with. What more reason did he have?

_Revenge for the pain he's put you through,_ a part of him said.

_Well, I did contribute to mother's death…he's got some grounds on that._

A split second was all it took for him to reach his decision. He let his sword fall to the ground.

Vergil stared at him, his eyes unreadable.

"It takes courage to fight, Vergil." Dante said, quietly. "But sometimes, it takes more courage not to."

"So now that we're so close to having an actual winner, you're backing out?" Vergil called. "What point does that prove?"

"She wouldn't want us to fight." Dante told him.

Vergil faltered for a split second, and then scoffed. "You've always been far too obedient to her when her advice was good for your personal gains."

It was Dante's turn to falter. "What am I gaining from this?" he asked finally.

"It's supporting your weak views." Vergil replied coolly. "Your fear of hurting people is going to be your downfall, Dante."

Dante nodded slowly. "Possibly. But I can't think of anything that sums mother up better than the line you've just said. So," he took a step back to lean against a pillar, keeping his hands at his sides. "You heard what I said. What are you gonna do?"

Vergil was still for a long moment, and for that moment, Dante felt his heart rate speed up. If Vergil actually chose to carry on and use Dante as a punching/slashing bag, Dante was in for some nasty experience

But Vergil's honor obviously prevented him for taking such an unfair advantage, and he sheathed Yamato. His eyes were flashing in frustration and rage as he turned towards the doorway.

Dante let out the breath he didn't even know he had been holding and let a smile grace his face instead.

"You were wrong, you know?" he called to his brother.

Vergil turned to face him. "About what?"

"That humans will never accept us for what we are. My three best friends, they all know who I am. They found out, and nothing changed. Between us, I mean."

.Vergil's face was unreadable. "They're the exceptions then, and not the rules."

Dante sighed in frustration. "What was I even hoping for? You'll always underestimate this race."

"Underestimate? Is that so?" Vergil replied, his voice cool. "Well, we'll see, won't we?"

With that cryptic remark, he turned and strode towards the doorway.

Dante took a step forward, suddenly worried. "Vergil, hey! Are you staying?"

Vergil stopped but didn't turn. "Better resign than be expelled." he answered.

"No! You can stay. I didn't tell anyone! Not even Dumbledore!"

Vergil's head swiveled to face him. After a few minutes' silence, the sound of grinding teeth could be heard.

"Nevertheless." Vergil replied through clenched teeth.

Then he transformed, a blue light vibrating around him, and walked out the doorway.

Unsure of what had just happened, Dante shook his head slowly and walked to Harry, feeling all the nervous energy drain out of him as he did so. He lifted Harry in his arms with effort and started for the door.

He focused on Harry's pale face so he didn't have to focus on the unexplainable ache in his chest.

The focus really pinpointed on Harry when he saw the unnatural paleness of the boy's skin and the now red lightning shaped scar that shone against it. He needed to get to the hospital wing, and soon.

Dante broke into a run.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

He passed the puzzle room, the troll room, the chess room and was running towards the key room when Dumbledore entered the passageway from the opposite direction, Fawkes perched on his shoulder.

His worried gaze took in both of them at once as he hurried to meet them. The headmaster bent over Harry and gently ran his long finger around Harry's scar. His face was grave when he looked up. Wordlessly, he conjured up a stretcher with a flick of his wand.

"Lay him down, my boy." he said.

Dante set Harry down with care. Dumbledore levitated the stretcher and hurried towards the key room. Dante followed, trying to ignore the weariness that was threatening to overwhelm him.

"Did you see-" he caught himself before he could say his brother's name. "Did you see Ron and Hermione?"

Dumbledore gave him a sad look. Dante felt a cold sensation in his chest.

"Did something happen?"

"No." Dumbledore replied, but the quiet sadness remained. "Ms. Granger is in perfect health, and Mr. Weasley was well enough to speak when I left him. Despite the swelling of his head, I believe he will be fine."

"And Harry? You think-"

"I believe you may have been just in time to prevent something dreadful from occurring." The professor replied.

Dante frowned_. Then why does he look so sad? Can it be because he…_

They opened the door to the plant room, and Dante's thoughts were cut off. He saw, by the faint light coming from Dumbledore's wand, that the plant he had passed before was a slithering mess that was trying to grab at everything nearby.

"That's what happens when you don't give a plant light OR fertilizer." he said. "Poor thing."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled for the briefest of seconds. "I can see why you're not a favorite of Professor Sprout." he replied.

Dante scoffed. "Gimme a break! What did I get wrong, now?"

Dumbledore illuminated the whole room in response, and the plant curled into itself. Dante could swear it let out a little shriek.

"A plant that hates light." Dante muttered. "Creepy."

Fawkes let out a musical note, and Dante turned to see Dumbledore grabbing the bird's tail.

"Hold onto me, Dante." The wizard said, already levitating Harry's stretcher with his other hand. He gently lifted it upwards until the stretcher was through the trapdoor, and then he canceled the spell and there was a soft 'thunk' that signified that it was set down on the floor above.

Dante grabbed the headmaster's sleeve, and Fawkes flew them outside the trapdoor, trilling as he did it. The sight that greeted him was not one he was ready for.

The two heads that he had left of Fluffy were lying a few feet away from its neck, splattered with blood. The headless body was twisted in an expression of agony, legs thrown awry, as if in the middle of a spasm. The walls were drenched in red. The only sound was the faint _drip, drip, drip_ of blood drops slowly hitting the floor.

Dante stared in horror, swallowing back bile. He glanced up at Dumbledore, who was watching him intently. He had to make him understand…he wouldn't-

"Professor, I didn't, I swear! Not to Hagrid's pet….I'd never…"

"I know, Dante." Dumbledore replied softly. They were now flying out the now open doorway of the third corridor and making for the hospital wing, Harry's stretcher floating beside them. "You were not the only swordsman to set foot here tonight."

Dante started. So Dumbledore knew about his twin.

"You met him?"

"Merely passed him on my way in." Dumbledore told him. "He was on his way out of the grounds."

Dante nodded silently. There was really nothing to say. Not that he could have said it even if he wanted to; the lump in his throat made sure of that.

The wing was nearly empty, save Ron who was sitting up on his bed and Hermione who was conversing with him. At their entrance, they both jumped up.

"Professor- did Snape-"

"The stone, was it-"

"What's wrong with-"

Dumbledore raised a hand.

"Not right now, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger. Mr. Weasley, please lie down. Ms. Granger, come over and assist your friend."

Said friend had lifted Harry out of the stretcher and was now lowering him on a hospital bed. Hermione pushed back the covers and helped Dante set Harry down. She ran her eyes frantically over Harry's still form.

"What happened?" she asked again.

"Please summon Madam Pomfrey, Ms. Granger." Dumbledore said. "And that reminds me- Tony, I believe it would be better for you to lie down."

Dante glanced at his professor in surprise and a bit of annoyance, but the world suddenly swirled in front of him. His demonic balances didn't require him to grab anything for balance, but he still swayed where he stood.

Dumbledore's hand fell lightly on his shoulder and steered him towards an empty bed.

"You've outdone yourself, my boy. But now it is time for rest. Everything is now under control."

Dante nodded slowly. There was some vital detail he had to tell his professor, he could feel a nagging in his mind, but he couldn't for the life of him spare enough energy to figure it out. So he allowed himself to fall back onto the bed and let oblivion sweep onto him. His last vision was Madam Pomfrey bent over Harry.

**1: Explanations should be up next chapter, from ever-wise Dumbledore!**

**That's that! We'll see some more of Ron and Hermione next chapter, and Dumbledore and Dante gets to have a chat.**

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Crossover Junkie: Thanks for the encouragements! Like I probably said many times, I love it when people point out exactly what they liked! Keep the reviews coming!

**Let me know what you think!**


	13. Aftermath

Thanks to Princess Serena til Universo, Thor of Asguard, 27aquarrow72, OscarFinal1396, darkslayer65 and tryal-leaf for favoriting and again Princess Serena til Universo, Thor of Asguard, Lykaeos, 27aquarrow72, Lady Lazy, AnnElfwind and tryal-leaf for following!

**50 favorites! That's just…too awesome. Thanks so much!**

**As you can see, I've finally managed an update that's got a word count of 6k+ again, after many shorter chapters. The reactions to the fight in last chapter really cheered me up. That was obviously the climax, so I had to put in a lot of effort to write the whole scene. Looks like it paid off!**

**This chapter has a very different tone from any other I've written, and it's been a challenge to keep the characters devoid of OOCness, which I'm still not sure that I've managed. So yeah, criticisms are welcome! **

**Also, Happy New Year 2015, everyone! This is the year when I turn into a legal adult in my country, Insha'Allah.**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue.**

**Where we left off:**

_Dumbledore's hand fell lightly on Dante's shoulder and steered him towards an empty bed._

"_You've outdone yourself, my boy. But now it is time for rest. Everything is now under control."_

_Dante nodded slowly. There was some vital detail missing, he could feel a nagging in his mind, but he couldn't for the life of him spare enough energy to figure it out. So he allowed himself to fall back onto the bed and let oblivion sweep onto him. His last vision was Madam Pomfrey bent over Harry._

Chapter 12

Ron was discharged just after sunrise, and after that, Madam Pomfrey shooed him and Hermione out the door.

"But Tony gets to stay!" Ron protested hotly.

"Oh, well, he is still sleeping, of course. But even that is not excuse enough for him to stay much longer! Now off with you."

They walked back to Gryffindor tower in depressed spirits. Even knowing that the Stone was out of enemy hands and that Voldemort was out of the school didn't help. Not when a professor was dead and Harry was in a sort of coma.

"Tony was right." Ron said suddenly.

Hermione looked at him. "Hm?"

"That it was Quirrell, not Snape." Ron sighed. "Wish it were!"

Hermione looked angry. "You want Professor Snape to die? He saved Harry's life."

Ron sniffed. "Well…"

Hermione stared at him reproachfully for a moment. "Look, Ron-"

"Ron! Hermione!"

Neville was running down the steps to meet them, his round face red with exertion. "I heard what happened." he said in a rush. "Is Harry okay?"

Hermione's face had fallen as soon as she heard Neville's voice. Now she tried to give a reassuring smile.

"Professor Dumbledore says he'll be fine." she said. "He's unconscious, but he's going to wake up soon. Neville, I'm so sorry about last night! If I had any other way-"

"Don't worry about it." Neville blushed. Ron wondered how it was showing even after how reddened his face already was. "I'm sorry too. You were going to save the wizardry world and I thought you were just being selfish!"

"But I attacked you!" Hermione wasn't about to let this go so easily.

"Well, what else could you have done?"

She and Ron both goggled at Neville. "You sounded like Tony there." Ron said.

"He said I needed to sound more confident." Neville replied, blushing again.

Ron shook his head. "Neville, a word of advice- Don't make Tony your role model on how to speak to people. That's as much as your life is worth."

Hermione nodded in agreement. Neville blinked at the two of them.

"Oh. So…um, where is he? He went with you, right? Last night, I mean."

"Yeah." said Ron. "He fell asleep in the infirmary after the excitements were over. Apparently, fighting You-Know-Who does that to people."

He told himself firmly he didn't feel jealous after seeing Neville's awestruck look.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante opened his eyes to see sunlight streaming in through the open windows of the infirmary. His gaze took in Harry's still form on the bed to his left, and the figure of Albus Dumbledore sitting beside it while his mind recalled what had happened last night. He lay there for a few seconds, staring up at the ceiling, feeling a strange sense of emptiness in his chest. Vergil- his twin brother was gone. Again.

He sat up in his bed. Dumbledore didn't move, despite the fact that he had to have heard Dante shifting. Dante was glad for the thoughtful privacy; he wasn't sure if he wanted to lay his emotions bare to anyone just yet. He looked up to see his reflection in the nearby window glass. A disheveled boy stared back at him, silver-white hair falling into sky blue eyes that shone with a deep sadness.

He closed his eyes in a long blink, and felt something warm and wet spill from his eyes. He swiped the back of his hand across his cheeks, pulling a reign on his emotions. When he looked up, the forlorn expression was gone from the boy's face, leaving behind a blank, impassive look. Dante felt a smile creeping onto his lips; he was learning to control his emotions. He would not keep them locked away forever, of course- he didn't want to end up like Snape. But as of now, it was probably better to keep it under wraps.

He cleared his throat, and Dumbledore took the cue and stood from Harry's bedside. Dante stood as well, feeling the world spin and quickly steady itself again. He wasn't fully recovered, then- he noted to himself, although he would take another stab to the chest before he admitted it to any other person.

He went to stand by the window. Dumbledore joined him a moment later, face grave. They both looked down at the students walking aimlessly on the school grounds.

"I destroyed the stone." Dante said without preamble, remembering the thing that yesterday, despite the nagging in his mind, he simply hadn't had enough energy to take the effort to remember. "He was going to drink it, and I was kind of- pinned down, you can say."

Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "The Flamels contacted me about it. I firmly held on to the belief that you had a valid reason for doing what you did. I'm delighted that my faith was justified."

"They're not dead yet?" Dante asked, only the slightly higher tone at the last word implying the question mark.

"No." Dumbledore replied evenly. "They have enough elixir to first sort out their affairs, but then, of course, they will die."

"Tell them I'm sorry." Dante said tonelessly.

Dumbledore cast him a meaningful look. "Why should I lie?"

Dante stiffened. "Who says that's lying?"

Dumbledore didn't answer. Dante sighed in frustration at seeing the inquiry in the blue eyes behind spectacles.

"I guess I just don't like people going after power- any sort of power." he said. "They tried to live for hundreds of years- that nearly resulted in a Dark Lord's resurrection."

Dumbledore still waited.

"And-and it cost me the loss of my brother. For the second time. I know what Vergil did can't be justified, but…" he sighed heavily. "I guess I want someone to blame. Someone I don't feel connected to."

"You have done an outstanding job in protecting the secret of your brother, if I may say so." There was no hint of accusation.

"I guess. But…but you're wrong. For a small bit of it. I don't feel bad that the Flamels will die, _but_ I do feel bad that it was me who as good as signed their death sentences. Is that wrong?"

Dumbledore eyed him for a few moments, and then shook his head. "No."

There was a small pause.

"I believe I am correct that you knew there were higher stakes than simply Vergil gaining immortality?" asked the elder wizard.

Dante's hand tightened only slightly on the windowsill. "Vergil said so. He said something about some Ultimate Power?"

Dumbledore looked contemplative. "Well, first of all, I believe you need to understand that Lord Voldemort wanted the Stone to sustain his soul in his own body. For as long as he wanted to."

"I figured that."

"Well, then the next part should be easier to understand. The two of you were born half humans, half demons. Yet, if I'm not very much mistaken, you have not been able to find a demon form."

"Wrong." Dante told him, voice devoid of emotion. "Both of us unlocked some of our abilities. We can sustain a demon form for a small amount of time now."

Dumbledore looked surprised, but quickly recovered. "May I ask how that came to pass?"

"Let's just say there were some painful things involved."

"Ah." Dumbledore nodded, and didn't press any further. "As I was saying, the Sorcerer's Stone would have enabled either of you to sustain your demon form for as long as you wanted to. That demon form might or might not have been the one you can tap into now. This state is known as 'the Ultimate Trigger', and I am, as would the whole world be had they known, eternally grateful to you for not letting someone with dark ambition reach this state. As you can surely imagine, Vergil would have been virtually unstoppable by any force we possess."

Dante had bowed his head near the last of this short speech. Now he lifted his head, sighed, and looked outside again. "That should have come as a consolation, I guess?"

"It wasn't meant to be one." Dumbledore told him, and the boy's eyes snapped up to meet the older wizard's gaze, surprise reflected clearly in the blue depths. "If I may be so bold, I know some of what you are feeling right now. I have been forced to duel my closest friend over something rather similar, only it was at 63 years of age instead of 11."

Dante smiled, bitterly. "I'm probably cursed with shouldering every responsibility my ancestors ever faced, huh?"

Dumbledore had nothing to say to that.

They fell silent again, Dante gathering his thoughts, Dumbledore simply waiting.

"About Vergil," Dante began, "Is there going to be any charge against him?"

"That is your choice." Dumbledore replied softly. "I believe I owe you that much."

"Yeah, and a lot more." Dante answered coolly; then softened the words with a small smile. "But keep going like this, and you'll eventually pay off all of it."

Dumbledore smiled a bit in reply.

"Don't tell the Ministry, then."

"As you wish."

They relapsed back into silence. A few moments passed. When Dante spoke, his voice trembled slightly.

"Last night, we fought like it was a battle to the death." he said, tracing a circle on the glass of the open window with his finger. "But there was a difference- I didn't want to hurt him without reason, but Vergil- he seemed to love it when I got hit." he swallowed, remembering the way Vergil had twisted Yamato inside his stomach. "Do you know about the day Mum died? The demons came inside the house, and Mum told us to go, to hide, that she'd be fine. I ran off. Vergil- he stayed and fought. He later told me that he was really close to finishing them off. I don't know if that's even true- but by the time I came out of my hiding place, it was too late and Mum was dead." he turned his gaze towards the lake, and the finger stilled. "Maybe that's why he likes hurting me. He blames me."

"And do you blame yourself?"

Dante inspected the finger still resting on the glass. "I guess, yeah."

"When you came out of your hiding place, did you know the demons were gone?" Dumbledore asked him.

"No. I just- I came back to my senses."

"So it was a late reaction."

"Too late." Dante said bitterly.

"Even if we go by the presumption that an eight year old boy is supposed to keep his mind completely under control when his house is being attacked by powerful demons-"

"Vergil did."

"That is to his credit, but even still you are not to blame. Eventually you came outside and were prepared to defend your mother. But despite both of your noble intentions, the truth is that the more powerful of the demons come in through portals, and this was possibly one opened close to your home, for it was obviously a planned attack. And even together- you wouldn't have enough strength to battle all the demons that can emerge from a portal. You would have to shut the portal down, but neither of you had that knowledge to make that happen."

"Then why did they leave?" Dante challenged. "When I came out, none of them were standing."

"At this stage, my dear boy, we can only assume." Dumbledore replied softly. "But I believe your mother's sacrifice had hidden your presence from them somehow, and that is why they left. Love is very strong magic, Dante, whether for humans or demons. It works in the strangest forms, and I do not believe there is a single wizard or witch in existence who can predict the ways it might take shape."

Dante blinked and locked eyes with his great-uncle. "You're not saying that just to make me feel better?"

Dumbledore replied without a hint of humor, "I think we're past that stage, don't you?"

The half-demon looked away again. A slight breeze stirred his hair. "Maybe."

"Tell me about how the fight ended."

Startled, he looked back at the headmaster. Before now, he was the one asking the questions.

"The fight with Vergil?" he asked, just to make sure. A barely perceptible nod was the response.

He pursed his lips, thinking where to start. "It's not very easy to describe."

"We can watch it, if you so wish."

Dante stood straight, his brows furrowed. "How?"

Dumbledore gestured to the door. "Come with me."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"This thing can show me any memory I have from an outsider's point of view?"

"Precisely." Dumbledore replied. "You may decide how much you wish to show me, if any. Bring that memory to the foremost of your mind, and allow me to do the rest."

Dante bit down on his lower lip, staring at the swirling liquid. He nodded to himself. "Go ahead."

Dumbledore pressed the wand to Dante's temple, and extracted a silvery thread. He dropped it in the bowl. In an instant, the images started swirling, but not much could be deciphered.

"We have to go down if we are to watch properly." said the old wizard.

The boy shook his head. "You go on ahead. I think I trust you with this." he paused and said, "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

Dumbledore winked at him, and disappeared inside the bowl. Dante sat down on Dumbledore's chair, behind his desk, and ran a finger down Fawkes's head, who had perched on his arm.

It took only a few minutes for Dumbledore to come up. Dante met his eyes and was completely astonished to see them filled with tears.

"Your parents would've been proud." he said as he stepped forward.

Dante suddenly found it hard to even swallow past the lump in his throat, so he simply accepted the embrace Dumbledore gave him and allowed himself to break the dam of his emotions.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Ron, Hermione!" Parvati Patil leapt through the portrait hole. "Professor McGonagall says you can go to the infirmary now!"

Ron nearly upended the chessboard in his haste to stand. Hermione also jumped to her feet. Percy, Ron's chess opponent, scowled as he started packing the pieces, ignoring the protests coming from the 4 cm statues of stone.

The two first years ran out the door and started for the stairs.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Slow-poke." Dante said as he sat back down by Harry's feet on the bed, and popped another toffee into his mouth. "Sleepyhead, too."

Harry didn't stir. Dante shrugged his shoulders and pulled his feet up, leaning back to rest his head against the railings. He rubbed at his eyes and let out a yawn.

After he had let it all out in Dumbledore's office, his great-uncle had walked him down to the infirmary and offered to stay if he so wished. Dante was already feeling somewhat lighter after conveying everything to someone and had told his professor to go away and X-ray someone else. Dumbledore had left with a good-natured laugh and a promise to learn about 'X-ray's from the Muggle Studies professor.

Students were coming and going all the time, leaving gifts and get-well cards by Harry's bedside. Many of them had asked Dante about his role in last night's adventures, as apparently not much was known about that. Dante had given the answer that seemed the most fitting, that he was with Hermione and Ron the whole time and that spending the night in the infirmary was the result of a brawl with a certain three-headed dog. He got many awestruck looks and some cheering for that, the latter of which of course got the culprits thrown out by the ear by an enraged Madam Pomfrey.

But stealing Harry's toffees could only go so far in passing the time, and this whole place was boring him already.

"Tony!"

A happy smile broke out on his face and he turned to receive an armful of Hermione. He didn't even feel the least bit awkward when he buried his face in her hair and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"That was for saving my life with the puzzle clues." he murmured. "I've wanted to do that ever since you sent Strawberry Sundaes for Christmas."

Hermione laughed, the sound muffled by his shoulder.

After she had pulled back, he grinned and said, "See, it really doesn't hurt to lower the bossy attitude."

"Oh, shut up." said Hermione, but she was still smiling.

Dante turned to look at Ron, wondering how exactly he was supposed to greet the redhead. Ron saved him the trouble.

"You could've come a bit earlier." he complained. "Then I wouldn't have this." he pointed to the bandage on his head.

"I did my best, trust me. If it weren't for Snape stopping me on the first floor, maybe-"

"Professor Snape?" Hermione cried. "He didn't cut any points, did he?"

"Nope. I ran off before he could." Dante remembered the events that took place afterwards and realized Snape should have been in the infirmary after all the injuries he had sustained. "Speaking of which, where is that guy?"

"He wasn't at the breakfast table." Ron reported. "Probably cooped up sulking in the dungeons."

Dante shrugged. "Yeah, well, I got detention tonight, so maybe I'll see him then."

"And then you can declare all your love for him, right?" muttered Ron. "You know, I-never-doubted-you speech."

Dante laughed. "And you guys got an 'I-told-you-so' speech coming, too."

Ron groaned.

"-but lucky for you, I'm not really in the mood."

"Lucky!" Ron said. "I don't think anyone's going to call any Gryffindor lucky anytime soon."

Dante frowned, then his eyes widened.

"It's the Quidditch final with Ravenclaw tomorrow, isn't it? And Harry's sick, too…"

"So we don't even have a Seeker." said Ron. His eyes lightened up suddenly. "Do you think-"

"No." Dante put his hands up. "No way. I unleashed my trigger, and who knows when my broom will start showering red sparks…"

"You did _what?!_"

Dante shot Hermione an accusing look. "You didn't tell him?"

"I didn't get a chance to!" she protested. "We were worried about Harry, and then there were always other students!"

"Well…" Dante sat back down on the bed. Maybe he should just get this over with all at once, he thought. "It was like this-"

And so he started. He told them all the major events while leaving out the gruesome details. He told them about the centaur, the process of unleashing the Devil Trigger (Hermione looked just about ready to hug him again), waking up after midnight, running into Snape, scaring him with DT (even Snape knew what you were before us? Ron exclaimed), him and Snape fighting Fluffy (he purposefully mentioned the part when Snape's intervention saved him from getting caught in the dog's jaws, to Hermione's admiring looks and Ron's sulky expression), going down the trapdoor and cutting through the plant, finishing Flitwick's stage within three seconds of starting (Ron called bluff on it and Dante merely smirked. The expression faded when he remembered that he and Vergil had never compared scores on that), smashing through the chessboard (Ron looked totally sore), getting through the puzzle (You did so much of it by yourself, Tony! It's amazing! Hermione gushed), entering the room just in time and fighting Quirrell (he left out the part of getting hit by the spells for additional effects), Voldemort leaving Quirrell to die (Ron again looked scared at hearing the name, but Hermione just looked sad), Vergil entering (this was greeted by loud, surprised cries that they just had enough sense to muffle with their hands), Vergil almost drinking the elixir (what do you mean, pinned down? Hermione asked suspiciously, and Dante dodged the question), the use of the Reductor Curse (Hermione actually squealed and even Ron looked impressed), his own decision to end the fight and the way Vergil had left the school, apparently never to return (Hermione had her hands over her mouth by then, tears brimming in her eyes, and Ron had muttered 'good riddance', causing Dante to be torn between laughing and crying), Dumbledore's arrival and their passage back.

"I still don't understand why Vergil reacted like that, though." Dante finished with a sigh. "I was trying to do him a favor by not telling anyone!"

"I don't know." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Because he's an ungrateful brat?" Ron suggested. Dante pinched the bridge of his nose.

"That too, probably." he admitted. "But maybe-oh well, maybe I'll never find out- anyway, enough about that! What do you say to one cauldron cake each?"

Ron took him up on that offer, ignoring Hermione's insistence that they wait until Harry had woken.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante, however, didn't feel like mixing with people and having pointless chitchats just yet. So he went to Hagrid's hut, apologized to Hagrid about Fluffy while insisting he hadn't struck the death blow, which Hagrid accepted and apologized right back, and arrived in the dungeons an hour before his detention.

He knocked on Snape's office door.

"Come in."

Dante pushed the door open, and walked forward to stand by Snape's desk, wrinkling his nose at all the potion ingredients inside jars. "My sun-tan lotion's rotting." he complained.

Snape, who had his right arm in a sling and was cutting some sort of roots on the table with a knife he was controlling with two fingers of his left hand, replied without looking up, "That's what usually happens to waste materials."

Dante snorted and sat down on a chair without invitation. Snape didn't say anything, to his surprise.

"About me scaring you last night-" he began cautiously.

Snape scoffed. "You didn't scare me."

"Then why was your wand hand shaking?"

Snape grinded his teeth and didn't answer.

"Anyway, I guess you know I learned about that transformation power from that book you gave me. I know I said I only wanted it for the theories, but when I realized that-"

"Your brother had the same abilities, you believed it necessary to defeat him." Snape cut in. "I….understand." he somehow forced out.

Dante stared at him, grinning ear to ear. "So it's not breaking your trust?"

"To the best of my beliefs, no. You acted…well."

"Severus Snape, praising a Gryffindor?" Dante snorted. "How come UK didn't fall yet?"

Snape's eyes hardened in an instant, and Dante threw up his hands.

"Hey! No need to get fussy about it-"

"I always value courage." Snape said coldly. "But unfounded arrogance-"

"Unfounded?'

"And reckless charges into danger-"

"Reckless…"

"And interruptions, I have no patience for."

Dante shrugged his shoulders. "Make do. I value courage too, but bullying, holding grudges and being unnecessarily cruel really tries my patience."

Snape narrowed his eyes at him, his upper lip curled. Dante had a vague feeling that it was supposed to scare him. He crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his chin.

Surprising Dante yet again, Snape didn't say a word in response, but instead turned back to his potions. The boy wondered if that wasn't due to the fact that he was trying to be nicer after- what had happened. Well, maybe he should try to be, too.

"Thanks for coming after me, yesterday." he said. "You once actually saved me from a bite, so…"

Snape simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"-of course, that could've been due to the fact that you thought I was trying to get at the stone-"

That got Snape's attention. "-it was a perfectly valid assumption-"

"-but I guess I can forgive you because after Halloween, I suspected you for a time."

Snape paused.

"It was a perfectly valid assumption!" Dante defended.

"I am not so given over to sentiment that I would tell you it was wrong of you to suspect me." Sanpe told him. "It was perfectly logical and it actually showed some hint of intelligence."

"Hey!" Dante protested indignantly. "Some hint of intelligence? I solved your puzzle!"

Snape turned so fast that his knife made a long scratch on the table. "You did what?"

"The Potions room. Hermione gave me some hint, but I did the rest."

"No doubt." Snape answered, still looking astonished. "They are charmed to rearrange themselves. Well, this is a most- unexpected development."

"Yeah, considering the kind of teacher I've got at potions."

Snape stiffened again. "I beg your pardon?"

"Come off it. You're brilliant at potions and stuff, but you're a terrible teacher. Breathing down student's necks doesn't help them with anything."

"I don't-"

"Sure do."

"It did help with you." Snape pointed out.

"How would you know?" Dante said. "For all you know, I just did the homework and promptly forgot about it."

"I marked your paper the day before yesterday."

Dante curled his lips inwards in order to keep from smiling. "And I passed." he realized. "With flying colors."

Snape didn't contradict the statement.

"So what about Ron and Harry? How did they do?"

"That's enough chatter." Snape was clamping down, his face suddenly hard as if he had only just realized just how much he was letting Dante get away with. "Get to work. Your ingredients and instructions are on the table. And put your feet down from the desk. You're scrubbing that muddy print before you go outside."

Dante crossed to the other side of the table and started chopping up the frog livers. "Alright then." he paused before saying, "So you know what happened." It wasn't much of a question. After all that Snape had seen, even Dumbledore couldn't keep that a secret from him.

"You mean the fact that your brother was driven away by your unbearably noble attitude? Yes, I do."

Dante tried to ignore the sting the careless words caused. "What do you mean?" he asked instead.

"Think about what you might feel if someone, who you loathe and who loathes you in equal measure-" Dante frowned and shook his head at the last words and Snape waved his hand dismissively, "does you a favor big enough that you are now indebted to him. How would that make you feel?"

"Pretty horrid." Dante admitted. "But there's a lot of other factors that come into this. He can't just walk out on me without thinking this from my side!"

"He simply chose the option that didn't make him indebted in any way." Snape said. "I very much doubt he gave a thought to spare your feelings."

Dante nodded slowly. He believed Snape had nailed it. But that brought him to…

"You sound like you've been through that."

In one instant, Snape's features had schooled themselves into a perfect mask. "Get to work, Mr. Redgrave."

"Call me Dante Sparda." Dante answered him absently. "I don't feel any anger towards my old man anymore; I think I get where he was coming from."

"No, you don't." Snape snapped. "You have no idea what it is to turn against all the people you've lived with all your life and go against all the ideals you were raised with to help people who don't understand you. And it isn't something that you, the popular Tony Redgrave, will ever understand."

Dante again felt a sting that took him a few seconds to recover from. But he welcomed it, for it felt good to have opinions from someone who wouldn't spare his feelings.

"Helping people who don't understand me, check." he ticked it off with his finger. "Turn against my best friend, check. But you're right in that I wouldn't understand what it feels like to go against every person in my world." he studied Snape. "So, have had some experience in being a baddie?"

Snape's eyes flashed with shock and then it was replaced by indifference again. Dante chuckled. "Uncle Albus once said that I'm 'shockingly perspective when I want to be'. What'd you say?"

"You're cutting the liver the wrong way." Snape hissed. "The lower portion is torn. Focus."

"So you were first a baddie," Dante went on, "Then you became a goodie and turned against the bad guys…I'm guessing that's Voldy and his followers. Am I right?"

Snape was completely still for a few moments, and Dante did the same, ice-blue eyes locked on bottomless black.

Finally, the black eyes shifted, focusing on a point above his head. "Yes."

Dante nodded to himself as he took in the information. Then he noticed how rigid Snape was, as if bracing for something. Dante had a feeling he knew what it was. He had gone through the same when Ron told Harry and Hermione what he was.

Snape was bracing himself for rejection. And he knew just what to do.

"Now that raises some interesting points." he said, letting his genuine eagerness show on his face. "What did Voldy look like before he was...you know?"

Snape stared at him.

"What did he sit on in meetings? Did he have a throne?"

"You do grasp the ramifications of what it means to be a follower?" Snape said finally, obviously making an effort to keep his voice nonchalant.

"Means you've probably been through some tough times and done some bad things." At seeing the bitter smile on Snape's face, he amended, "Terrible things. So? You turned."

Snape gave him an almost envious look. "It must be relaxing to be so naïve." he said condescendingly.

Dante refused to rise to the bait, and instead offered a slight smile, his gaze darkening slowly. "My father left us when we were six. My mother told us bedtime stories of a demon Emperor that we always knew was out there, waiting to kill us. I buried my own mother-by myself, obviously- when I was eight, fought against my twin brother who nearly killed me by causing my fall from a total of 300 feet in the air, willingly let someone push a sword through my chest to unleash the demon inside me, and fought my brother again who then left me." He chuckled softly and darkly. "Trust me, it takes someone really gifted to stay naïve after that."

Snape had the grace to look a little abashed, but then he opened his mouth again.

"I know you've got more impressive things on your plate, sir," Dante said, cutting off whatever his teacher was saying. "But I simply don't care. I like to take things as I see them, and as far as I can see, you're not his follower now. I don't judge people by their past." he scratched his head as if in sudden thought. "Actually…yeah, true, I don't judge people at all. Too much thinking involved, you know. So, you don't have to be worried."

Snape stared at him in bewilderment, actually fumbling for words. "I wasn't worried." he said finally, but Dante laughed.

"Ha! Keep telling yourself that."

Snape didn't answer him, his eyes still searching Dante's for any hint of deception. Dante simply held his gaze and waited.

Finally, the Potions Master stopped the scrutinizing. As he looked down at the table, Dante heard him chuckle. Actually chuckle.

"Dumbledore's great-nephew." he murmured softly. "Who would've thought?"(1)

Dante furrowed his brows. _What's he talking about?_

But the line of thought was interrupted when Snape looked up at him, and Dante could see a hint of a smile. He grinned.

"There, that wasn't so hard, was it? You look much better now, but don't make a habit of that. Otherwise, we'll lose our oh-so-intimidating bat of the dungeons."

Snape's lips twitched again in a repressed smile. "I don't need your pointers on that part, Mr. Sparda."

"Don't make it sound like you're talking to my father." Dante complained. "Or heaven forbid, my brother."

"Tread carefully." Snape warned him. "You're overstepping your boundaries." He paused before adding, "Dante."

Dante grinned wider at him. They had an understanding. And Dante, at least, knew how precious an understanding could be when it was with Severus Snape.

At that moment, the fireplace flared, and Albus Dumbledore stepped into the room with a very, very grave face.

"Severus," he said, "Might I borrow Dante for a moment?"

Snape looked apprehensive. Dante looked between the two adults.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"A news from the ministry." said Dumbledore. "I have just finished trying to reason with Cornelius- the minister, but he seems entirely devoid of anything of any semblance to logic."

"That's hardly news." Snape said silkily. "How does it concern Dante?"

Dumbledore did no more than blink at the use of Dante's actual first name. "I will debrief you later, Severus."

Dante shook his head. "You can say it here, in his presence." he told his great-uncle. A chill was beginning to set in his bones. "I don't mind."

He barely registered Snape's shock and the proud glint in Dumbledore's eyes.

"Well, then, my boy, there is no easy way to say this." Dumbledore said quietly. "Simply put, Dante, your demonic heritage is known to the minister and he is adamant that you cannot stay at Hogwarts."

Dante felt like the floor had dropped out from under his feet. A thin hand clamped down on his shoulder in a vice-like grip, and without thinking, he reached up to grasp it, anchoring himself.

"How?" he asked, pleased to find his voice didn't waver….even though it was unnaturally small.

Dumbledore suddenly looked ancient. "Vergil had, apparently, taken your words as a challenge. An hour ago, he showed up in front of Cornelius Fudge's house and transformed into his demonic form. He left with the message, 'give my regards to my brother at Hogwarts'. So Cornelius came here, demanding that I expel you."

"And?" Snape's voice said from somewhere above his head.

"What do you think, Severus?"

"You complied?"

Dumbledore didn't answer. The grip on Dante's shoulder tightened even more and Dante absently thought that it would possibly be a painful grip for a human. "He threatened to let the School Committee know?" the potions master asked.

"If I do not give my answer within 24 hours, that is. And he will. I'm certain of it. Dante-" Dumbledore turned back to him, "I am afraid I can only try to keep this quiet and so prolong your stay to the rest of your first year. You can leave normally, but you must not come back for the second year. This arrangement is the only way that might save you from actually being expelled, meaning you can keep your wand, which is usually snapped when a student is expelled."

Dante swallowed heavily. "Got it. But can I first ask you for something?"

"Anything."

"The day before we leave on the Hogwarts train, I'd like to tell all of the school what I am. Let's see if the students have the same opinion as the minister."

"They will." Snape said.

Dante twisted around to look at him. "You sure?"

Snape took a step back to look him in the eye. The hand on Dante's shoulder fell away. "Absolutely."

Dante faced Dumbledore. "What do you think?"

Dumbledore sighed heavily. "I cannot be certain, Dante. But if there's one thing I can tell you, it's that you should never lose faith in humanity."

Dante mulled that over. "I'll keep that in mind."

"I'm terribly sorry, my boy."

Dante tried to shrug in a careless manner, both physically and mentally. He wasn't sure how much it worked. "The atmosphere's getting pretty thick. Let's try to let in a bit of air. You say I only have the rest of the year?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"So that tells me-" Dante felt a small smile tug at his lips. "That I've got business to settle with the Ravenclaws."

**1: From what I read, Dumbledore's very much the judging type, even towards people who's gone through things he himself had never experienced. Throughout the series, he's always questioning Snape's morals, and admittedly, it seemed kind of unfair to me, but that's beside the point.**

**And that's that! Who saw that one coming? I decided from the beginning that Dante won't stay, though, so he's got to go!**

**Next chapter: Quidditch final!**

**Reply to unsigned review(s):**

Crossover Junkie: Thank you for the kind and encouraging words! Let me know if I'm any good at writing…whatever category this chapter falls in. Hurt/Comfort maybe? I dunno…

qwertyuiop: *inserts Sephiroth voice* Edited LOVELESS, act 1. *inserts her own voice* Cool editing there! It made me laugh out loud. I'm a sucker for editing dialogues and things like that. Thanks for your amazing compliments too! I hope the explanation that formed in Dumbledore's head is to your liking. *inserts Genesis voice* _To become an author that writes chapters and gets loads of favorites, follows and reviews, I offer thee another chapter. *_inserts normal voice_* _I know it's not as good as yours, but I couldn't resist.

**Let me know your thoughts!**


	14. Quidditch Final!

**Thanks to** **DemonCatLady, Frontrunner Omega and Broadside Ginger for favoriting and again Frontrunner Omega, Shadow893 and RygarThunderheart for following!**

**So many reviews! Thank you so much!**

**This chapter will be much livelier than the last one. There's a Quidditch match in here, and it was a blast to write! Hope you like it!**

**Where we left off:**

"_You say I only have the rest of the year?"_

_Dumbledore nodded._

"_So that tells me-" Dante felt a small smile tug at his lips. "That I've got business to settle with the Ravenclaws."_

**Here we go!**

Chapter 13

"Pink piglets!" Dante yelled to the portrait and jumped inside the Gryffindor Common Room. Several students looked up at his entrance and immediately a cheer rose up.

Dante wondered if that would be the same if they knew what he was. He grinned at them all, waved, and asked Lavender Brown, "Where's the Captain?"

She blinked in surprise at the query. "Wood? He's over there, in that corner."

Dante made his way over to the fifth year that looked like Voldemort had just taken over the school. "Oliver, we need to talk."

Wood scowled at him. "You're still talking? This whole thing is the fault of the three of you. If you hadn't taken Harry down that hole, we'd win the Cup tomorrow!"

Coming from most people, an absurd statement like that would be surprising, but Oliver Wood was very well-known for his manic obsession over Quidditch. It was considered a miracle that the Captain had managed to pass all the exams he had to take so far, seeing as how little he focused on his studies or really, anything besides Quidditch strategies and practices.

Dante merely grinned. "So I take it you're out of a Seeker? Then it'll come as good news to you that I got you a replacement."

Wood looked suspicious instead of overjoyed. Tony Redgrave's mischievous streak was, by now, almost as well known as Fred and George. "Who?"

"Me."

Before the shocked captain could say anything, Fred and George, who were drinking from two bottles of pumpkin juice, whooped and ran over.

"We're saved!' cried Fred.

"Wait till you see Tony in action, Oliver!" said George.

"Ravenclaw doesn't stand a chance!" said Fred.

Oliver Wood eyed the twins. "When did you two see him fly?"

"Chirstmas treat!" said George, grinning manically. "It's so great to know you'll be joining us, Tony!"

He thumped Dante in the back. Really hard.

"Yeah, we're getting a brother in suffering." Fred gestured towards Wood with his eyebrows, and then he too, thumped Dante in the back. Just as hard.

Dante adopted a dizzy expression and blinked repeatedly at them, waiting for his opening.

Fred raised his bottle of pumpkin juice. "Let's drink to that!"

George raised his as well. The two brothers clicked the bottles together and raised them to their lips, starting to drink.

"It's so great for me to be able to join you, too!" Dante said, and thumped both of them on the back.

Of course he had held back, but the force still sent them face-first onto the red couch, choking and coughing. Dante managed to keep a straight face when he saw a bit of juice come out one of the twin's noses, but inside he was laughing uproariously.

Wood didn't seem to have noticed any of the commotion that had just happened. He was eyeing Dante like he was a potion that had turned a wrong color. Then he nodded to himself and stood up. "Well, it's not like we have another option. Fred, get Tony your broom and come outside. We need to give him a test run."

"He's not getting my broom for the game." Fred pointed out, sending a death glare at Dante as he straightened on the couch, and the younger boy immediately put his hands up in the air.

"He'll use Harry's, then!" Wood said impatiently. "Let's go."

At that, the twins seemed to get over their sour moods in an instant.

"Tony, to the unsuspecting eye, Oliver Wood doesn't seem to have the concept of personal belongings." George said.

"But give it time and you'll see that he actually doesn't have the concept of personal _opinions_." Fred finished.

And the two marched a snickering Dante out the door and towards the school grounds.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dante didn't hold back on his abilities this time, barring the channeling of demonic power. By the fifth second after the Snitch had been released, he had it in his palm.

He whipped his broom around and looked Wood in the eye. The boy was staring at him with his jaw dropped. Dante waited for the bombshell.

SLAM!

Dante was nearly knocked off his broom as Wood threw his broom and himself at Dante, laughing like a child who'd just found his Christmas present. Dante rubbed at his shoulder as the Captain let go of him. "Let's just hope this fancy doesn't seize you in the middle of the game." he muttered. Wood either didn't hear him, or ignored him.

"Bring the whole team out right now." Wood said. "We need to have a few training sessions."

"Oliver, he's not actually registered." said one of the twins.

"Isn't he?" Wood said, still grinning like a maniac. "Well, that's just a detail now, isn't it?"

"If he's not signed up, McGonagall won't even let him train with us." George pointed out.

"Oh." mouthed Wood, looking mildly annoyed at what he no doubt considered a pointless rule. "I'll talk to Professor McGonagall right now."

He jumped off his broom and walked briskly from the pitch.

Fred gave Dante a little nudge. "The professor will want to see you." he said. "Go on. By the way, is Vergil as good as you are?"

"Yeah." Dante said, his face falling.

"Well, then, let's hope he doesn't go and join the Ravenclaw team." said George.

Dante stared. It seemed they didn't even know that Vergil was gone from the school. "Where is Vergil anyway?" he asked cautiously, just to be certain. "I didn't see him all day."

"Maybe moping about again." said George. "Search for him if you need him, because no one's going to know anything. He disappears for days and no one sees him except in the classes, and we don't have any of those now."

Dante nodded slowly. "I don't think I'll find him if he doesn't want to be found." he said and followed after Wood.

He had no idea Vergil was so isolated from everyone else. Sure, he always seemed to be doing everything by himself, but to be gone from the school for a whole day and no one to even miss him...Dante knew Vergil had it in him to be popular if he wanted to be. He chose not to.

In fact, he wanted not to.

He couldn't fathom how a boy who loved his human mother so much could have such a terrible distaste towards all other humans.

He shook off his twin brother from his mind as they stepped over the threshold and into Professor McGonagall's office. He was now running on borrowed time, and he wasn't going to waste another second 'moping about' as George had said. He started with the professor, giving her a cheeky grin and a tilt of the head towards Wood.

"Yes, Oliver?" she asked Wood, looking dejected.

"Professor, I believe I have found you a Seeker." Wood announced with a broad smile.

"Tony Redgrave?" she looked him up and down. Dante noticed her skeptical look, but of course he knew how low her opinion of him was. He wondered how Dumbledore had managed to keep his actual part in last night's fiasco a secret. "To the best of my knowledge, he has only once played Quidditch to date, and that was on Christmas in a team consisting of only three players."

"For whatever it's worth, our team won!" Dante defended.

"Professor," Wood said imploringly, "I've never seen a more talented Seeker in my life. You have to give him a chance!"

"It's not like you've got a better option here, you know." Dante said with a shrug, ignoring the mental voice that was yelling, _'you're not helping!'_

Professor McGonagall was staring at Wood. "Better than Harry, you say?"

"I believe so, professor."

She fixed Dante with a look. "Why didn't you come forward earlier?"

"Harry was here." he said. "And as for today, um…I wasn't feeling too well?"

"Very well." she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I trust your judgment, Wood, but you'll have only the morning to prepare your new player. The match is at 4 pm, and I don't see how…" she trailed off and glanced at Dante, shaking her head. "No Seeker, to the best of my knowledge, had played on the team with so little experience beforehand. But…" she allowed herself a smile, "No first year, to the best of my knowledge, had ever killed a mountain troll single-handedly."

Dante gaped at her. Wood gave her a grateful look, trying to show that he appreciated her attempt to encourage their Seeker.

Getting over his shock, Dante closed his mouth and nodded to acknowledge the…somewhat shaky…vote of confidence. He'd enjoy surprising her all the more because of it. Making people proud had become foreign to him over the last three years, but now he had started appreciating it again.

"Wood," she said, "I'm writing you the permission to use the training grounds tomorrow. The Ravenclaws have finished their final session today, as you are aware, so you can take as long as you need. Mr. Redgrave, bear in mind that catching the Snitch tomorrow is essential in order to win the Quidditch Cup. We have a lead of 100 points over our opponents, but if the Ravenclaw Seeker catches the snitch before us, we can very well lose it. So there is no room for you to get sidetracked. We already lost the House Cup, and I'd like my House to come away with at least one trophy this year."

Dante frowned. "But the House Cup hasn't been awarded yet, and there's still room for adding points."

"Yes, but that is only in paper. The classes are over, making this Quidditch match the only way you can achieve points. And according to the statistics, we can only go ahead of Slytherin if we have a lead of 100 points at the time we catch the snitch." she raised her eyebrows for emphasis.

She pulled a parchment from her stack, dipped her quill in the inkpot and bent over her desk to write down the permission. Dante's gaze lingered on the back of her head. Slowly, his lips curled into a challenging smirk.

After they were given the written permission and moved away from McGonagall's prying eyes, Wood grasped him by the shoulders. "Ravenclaw's Seeker is actually pretty good. We're going to need all your talents, but we can do it."

Dante met his eyes squarely. "I think if I get Harry's broom, the House Cup won't be a problem."

Wood looked confused. "Sorry, did you mean to say the Quidditch Cup?"

Dante smiled cockily. "No, Oliver. I meant the House Cup."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

By 9 o'clock, the whole team was aware of the addition to the team. Wood kept the news successfully secret from everyone else, but his sudden cheerful mood was getting stares.

"Maybe he's got a girlfriend." Lee Jordan suggested.

"Seriously?" Angelina Johnson said, her eyes twinkling as she stole a glance at Dante over her shoulder. "Wood's married to Quidditch."

"I thought it could be that Harry's awake, but Ron said he's not...I'm out of ideas." Jordan defended.

Dante had already decided he would tell Ron and Hermione, and he made good on it.

They both wore matching incredulous looks at hearing the news. "Really?" Ron asked finally.

Dante nodded, smiling. "Really."

"What if you're exposed?" Hermione whispered so as not to be overheard.

The smile disappeared from Dante's face. It didn't go unnoticed by Hermione.

"Tony?" she asked tentatively.

"Oh, it's nothing." Dante answered her. "Just wondering…you know, if people will ever accept me if they know my true identity."

She bought it. It was a half-lie anyway. "Well, they're prejudiced." she said. "But you know that you've got nothing to be ashamed about."

"I do….anyway, so," he smoothed his features. "I'm only getting one morning in training."

Ron snickered. "One….Whole…Morning? Ravenclaw's done for."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The morning was bright and clear, but it was also surprisingly hot. Dante shielded his eyes from the sun as he caught the snitch for the eleventh time, listening to the cheers from his teammates. He had taken Wood's comment to heart and 'borrowed' Harry's broom. He knew Harry wouldn't mind, and even if he did, Dante wouldn't have given a damn. The broom was amazing. He wondered how fast he could make it go if he channeled his demonic powers into it. But he wasn't doing it, because he didn't want to cheat in a professional match. He already had a big advantage because of his superhuman balance.

"Can I get everyone's attention for a second?" he called as they touched down.

Wood hopped off his broom. "Everyone, over here!"

Once they were close enough to converse without shouting, Dante said, "Is anyone in any doubt that we're going to win this match?"

"We can do it within the first minute!" said Fred.

"Unless they knock you off the broom, no contest." said Angelina, smiling down at the first year.

Dante crossed his arms over his chest. "No chance. So, what do you say to taking this higher up?"

"Like what?" Wood asked cautiously.

"Like the House Cup." Dante answered evenly.

"WHAT?!" cried Alicia and Katie.

"No way!" said George. "We'll miss our opportunity and the game'll be lost."

Dante narrowed his eyes. "I'm going for it anyway. You guys really don't have a say in this, so pick up the 100 points as soon as you can."

This was true. Making Dante leave would also leave them without a Seeker, or at least, a capable one. And Dante knew they didn't want that, even if their current Seeker was going to become active only after gaining an impossible amount of points.

"I've still got some tricks up my sleeve." Dante said with a smile. "If you guys start practicing again now, I can show you that I can help both with the scoring and the defending while still being the Seeker."

Still looking betrayed, they all started the next session.

Dante let the Snitch fly away until he couldn't see it anymore. He turned his broom and saw Angelina speeding away with the Quaffle, Alicia hot on her heels. Dante stood on his broom.

"Alicia, below her!" he yelled, and then charged at Angelina. He guided his broom downward while keeping his balance by shifting his weight, and slammed the tip into the ball tucked in the crook of her elbow. The Quaffle slipped under her arm and fell straight down and was immediately snatched out of the air by Alicia. She charged towards the posts where Wood was hovering. Dante smirked to himself and timed his charge. Just as Alicia was about to take the shot, he rushed past the Captain's ear, making him recoil on reflex, and that split second was enough for her to throw the ball past him and through the hoop.

Dante was already halfway to the ground, for he had spotted the Snitch hovering a foot above the grass. He twisted his broom and dodged the bludger that was coming his way, and caught the snitch and rose effortlessly into the ar.

"Still saying we shouldn't take a shot at this?" He called, spreading his arms.

His answer was a deafening cheer.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"I don't see anything stopping us!" Wood laughed, looking exhilarated as they walked into the broom closet.

Dante brushed Harry's Nimbus, smiling at the captain's cheerful mood.

"But, Tony," the fifth year suddenly seemed to remember, "If you see the Seeker going after the Snitch, catch it before him. The Quidditch Cup is more important than the House Cup."

"I don't know about that." said Katie. "But we're not really making progress towards the House Cup if we lose."

"Will do." Dante answered Wood. "Let's get something to eat. You made us skip breakfast; there's no way I'm going to miss lunch."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"How was practice?" Hermione asked as Dante plopped down next to her. On her other side, Ron bent his head to listen.

"Great." Dante answered, scooping sausages onto his plate. He lowered his voice to little more than a whisper. "There's something I need to tell you."

Hermione bent her head as well. "What?"

"We're going after the House Cup."

"Seriously?" Ron breathed. "They're agreeing?"

"Totally." Dante told him. "I showed them what I can do…well, most of it."

"But that's…" Hermione began counting. "With 70 percent points from the point difference in Quidditch matches being added to the points of the winning House, and Slytherin winning the match yesterday against Hufflepuff by a margin of 200 points which placed their total on 472 points in the House point table, and our House points being a total of 302 points, we need at least 171 points if we are to win. Multiply 171 by 100 and divide it by 70…that's nearly a lead of 245 points in Quidditch score! Tony, we can't win this unless we are leading by 100 points by the time you catch the snitch!"(1)

Ron gaped at Tony. "Are you all crazy?"

"They all think we can do it." Dante grinned. "And I'm pretty sure we _will_ do it."

Malfoy walked past their table with a confident swagger. "Have fun watching, Redgrave!" he called back over his shoulder. Then he paused dramatically. "I wonder how they're going to catch the snitch today? Maybe cross their fingers and hope for it to go into infirmary and sneak into Potter's drooling mouth?"

The Slytherins howled with laughter. Ron stood up furiously at the insult to Harry, but Dante pushed him back down.

"We might as well. Maybe even in sleep, Harry has a better idea than you about when to open his mouth. Wouldn't want people to open their mouths when all that comes out is girlish screaming."(2)

Malfoy blushed furiously and Dante shrugged. "I do have a tale or two to share if anyone's interested."

Malfoy was already shaking his head, so Dante waved and turned back to his food. "Have fun explaining, Draco!"

Indeed, the Slytherins were curiously looking between the two of them. Malfoy stomped away without another word.

"Wish I had a video camera." he commented to Hermione. "I'd like to see his face when he sees who's filling in for Harry."

"What's voodoo camera?" Ron asked.

Hermione sighed and Dante laughed.

Still grinning, he looked up at the staff table and met Dumbledore's gaze. The wizard smiled proudly at him. Dante smiled back and looked at Snape. The professor was staring at him already, and as their eyes met, Snape turned his eyes to the door of the Entrance Hall and back to Dante.

Feeling curious, he nodded.

After finishing his lunch, he said goodbye to Ron and Hermione and went down to the Entrance Hall, where he found Snape waiting for him.

"What?" he asked.

Snape looked vaguely irritated at the rudeness, but didn't comment on it. "I want you to know and remember," he said, "that you're not allowed to use any of your demonic abilities on the pitch."

"So you know…oh." Dante nodded to himself, remembering what he said back at Snape's office.

"So?" Snape folded his arms over his chest.

"Does that even allow a demon to play?"

"Students are not banned from playing, and there's no mention that said student will have to be human." Snape replied cautiously. "There is a rule that first years can't play, but-" he looked mildly disgusted, "The Headmaster made an exception for his golden boy, and he intends to do the same for you. But players performing magic that can aid them in the game directly, be it from a wand, from a maze or from a magical or demonic creature, is completely against the tournament rules."

Dante smirked. He had no doubt Snape had dug up that rule just to give the Slytherins a chance. "There's no way I can detach my abilities from myself. I'm not going to pretend I can't balance on a broom or that I can't see tiny things or very fast objects that are normally invisible to the human eye. But I'm not going to channel my power into the broom." he grinned. "On one condition."

"You're not in a position to make demands." Snape pointed out.

Dante tutted. "Oh, I most certainly am. Trust me, you won't even know if I do use my powers, so you'll have to take my word for it."

Snape looked down his nose at him. "Trusting you, while seems like a mistake only a foolish Gryffindor can make, does have merit to it sometimes." he said. "What is the condition?"

Dante smiled. His teacher was finally, completely returning his trust.

"The condition is that you use the toothpaste I'll send you next Christmas."

It wasn't often that a statement left Severus Snape lost for words. When Dante saw Snape's face start to twist in fury, he quietly slipped out the door and went straight to the dressing room, snickering the whole time.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Wood was standing in the middle of the dressing room preparing to give his speech. Dante listened and chuckled as Fred and George stole Wood's lines.

"Tony," said Alicia, "Professor Dumbledore's come to watch."

Dante couldn't help the soft smile. "Thanks." he said. Though Alicia nodded in acknowledgement, Dante didn't know if she was the one he was thanking.

"I don't like that smile." Katie told him. "It makes you look old."

Dante glanced at the mirror in surprise. "Oh, can't have that. Wake me up when Wood's finished."

"Listen to me, people!" Wood thundered, and Dante felt his eyes start to droop.

Incredibly, he managed to keep himself awake for the entire length of the speech. When their Keeper was done, the team got to their feet.

"Now remember, Tony." Wood said. "Don't risk the Quidditch Cup. If you see the Ravenclaw Seeker-"

"Got it." Dante interrupted. "Take it easy, okay? I'm not screwing this up."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Ron dropped into the seat next to Hermione, grinning. "Wood's announced his squad." he said. "You should've seen the look on Malfoy's face!"

Hermione smiled at that. "The Gryffindors are taking it well." she murmured. "I've seen a lot of stickers supporting Tony."

"Yeah, and the Hufflepuffs are taking our side." Ron observed. "They don't want Slytherin winning the Cup, I guess."

Hermione nodded. "Slytherins said some pretty hurtful things after they won against Hufflepuffs. I suppose they won't forget it. Good for us. The team needs all the support it can get."

"Strange, isn't it? With how timid they act, you wouldn't have expected Hufflepuffs to give out the loudest cheers!" Ron said approvingly, glancing at the roaring supporters.

The dressing rooms opened at that moment and cheers filled the stadium. The players flew out into the pitch; the Weasley twins, as was the norms, circled the hoops once. Tony Redgrave did a lap of the whole pitch at breakneck speed before coming to a stop over Wood and Davies's head.

The two captains shook hands with matching stony faces and took up positions with their respective teams. Tony pulled up to be on level with the Ravenclaw Seeker, Jerry Thomson.(3) From the stands, Hermione couldn't see the looks on their faces, but she assumed Tony would be sporting a cocky smile.

Madam Hooch gave her usual cautions, and opened the case containing the balls. The snitch flew away, both Seekers looking after it for a few seconds before it went out of sight.

The Quaffle was thrown, and the whistle was blown.

"They're off!" cried Lee Jordan. "Although it's being said that this match is between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, Ravenclaws are not title contenders, making this more a contest between Slytherin and Gryffindor!(4) And of course, the biggest surprise of the game is the new Seeker for Gryffindor, Tony Redgrave, who despite having only a morning of training is flying much better than Thomson-"

"Jordan, tell us what's happening in the game."

"Sorry, professor. But the audiences should know that Redgrave has the best broom on the pitch…a Nimbus 2000, which is-"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, professor. Alicia Spinnet has the Quaffle, passing to Angelina- oh no, intercepted by- but wait, Katie has it back, flying towards the hoops- dodging a bludger, oh dear it could've taken her head off but Gryffindor has always had more quality than-"

"Jordan, I swear-"

"Sorry, sorry- Katie's nearly to the post- to Alicia- back to Katie- she shoots…KATIE BELL SCORES! TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheers from the Gryffindors were accompanied by groans from the Ravenclaws and Slytherins.

"And now Ravenclaw takes possession once again, Jeremy Stretton passes the ball to Roger Davies, who's now flying towards the Gryffindor post- back to Stretton- works his way around Angelina, now that's impressive- I didn't say anything, professor!- passing it to Davies- WHAT'S HAPPENING!"

From above, Tony had gone into a dive…completely focused on a point on the other side of the pitch. This was fast…no one could remember the snitch being seen barely a minute into the game. The Ravenclaw beater sent a bludger…Tony maneuvered around Davies who was about to shoot on goal…the bludger hit Davies' broom and sent him off balance. The Quaffle fell down- Angelina caught it and passed to Katie who made for the Ravenclaw posts again. Tony turned his broom and made for the hoops, twisting around the other players….and straight towards the Ravenclaw Keeper, Jerry hot on his heels.

"They're going to slam into the post!" Jordan cried. "And Angelina is preparing to take the shot- and Tony pulls up- Jerry collides with the Keeper! Post free for Angelina- ANGELINA JOHNSON SCORES! ANOTHER TEN FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

Tony circled around the hoop and flew away, high-fiving Angelina.

"We can do this!" the Chaser cried after him, laughing. "Merlin, I really think we're going to do this!"

Lee Jordan was yelling his throat hoarse, "INCREDIBLE! OUTSTANDING! MARVELOUS!"

"He was just helping out with the scoring!" cried Hermione, dancing on the balls of her feet. "He stopped Ravenclaw from scoring and helped us to score!"

"Wow." breathed Dean.

The Gryffindor team seemed to run on a manic energy now, as seen by the thirty points that came within the next ten minutes. Wood was having his best performance yet, turning away Jeremy Stretton and Randolph Burrow in quick succession.

And then groans and howls came from the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors.

"Oh no…Davies scores!" cried Lee Jordan. "Gryffindors are now leading by 50 to 10!"

Tony smacked his head with his hand.

"Don't know what he's blaming himself for…" said Dean. "He's got nothing to do about that….but how is it that no one saw the snitch yet?"

And then, the Ravenclaws roared.

"Thomson shoots off!" Jordan was yelling. "And Tony is on pursuit- he circles around- what's he even doing!"

Tony had pulled his broom between the snitch and Jerry, blocking the Seeker's view as he veered both of them off course.

The moment he realized the deception, Jerry furiously moved around Tony, but the snitch was gone. The whole stadium was howling in outrage, Gryffindors and Ravenclaws alike.

"Why would he do that?" cried Jordan. "He had a great chance- he was ahead of Thomson and he had a better broom!"

Madam Hooch looked extremely confused, but it was also obvious that what Tony did, while seemingly bad sportsmanship wasn't an actual foul.

Dante shrugged at Jerry. "Couldn't help it. Sorry."

"Oh, you'll be!"

Even without turning, Dante could hear the swishing from behind as Randolph came full speed at him. He went to duck- but changed his mind- they needed the penalty.

_Thwack!_

Dante gripped his broom tightly to avoid falling. The Chaser's broom had caught him in the shoulder, but he wasn't badly hurt…the best it would do is bruise a little and heal in a few seconds. He smirked as he saw that it had served its purpose.

"Penalty to Gryffindor for deliberately attacking the opposition!" cried Madam Hooch, as the Gryffindors began yelling again, though this time the support was on Dante's side.

"All right?" Alicia cried as she flew past him and towards the Ravenclaw post, the Quaffle tucked under her arm.

"Fine!" Dante yelled back. He rubbed his shoulder to get rid of the annoying sting.

Hermione squinted to see overhead. "How many times do you think Tony's seen the snitch by now?"

"He's probably never lost sight of it in the first place." Ron said.

The whistle was blown, and Alicia took her shot.

"YES!" cried Jordan. "SPINNET SCORES! 60-10!"

Tony exchanged a high-five with one of the twins and flew overhead, circling the field again.

"Albus?" asked Minerva McGonagall from her seat. "Do you think…the House Cup….?"

"I believe you have an extraordinarily stubborn student in your House, Minerva." Dumbledore answered, his eyes twinkling. "Don't you think so, Severus?"

"Stubbornness bordering on pigheadedness." Snape replied, his eyes focused on the play.

The game was becoming nastier now, both sides committing more and more fouls. The Ravenclaws seemed to get more and more frustrated, and the penalties were coming in abundance. Tony seemed more focused on not letting Ravenclaw get the Snitch than winning the match, which was just grating on everyone's nerves except the Gryffindors on the pitch; though even Wood seemed annoyed sometimes. The Gryffindor Seeker ended up with two more injuries, one in the back of his head that was done with a Beater's bat in a fit of rage, the other an elbow to the gut. Both he seemed to recover quickly from; probably due to the fact that Gryffindor had two more penalties from those incidents, both of which were successfully taken and resulted in 20 more points.

Finally, Madam Hooch called a break.

"100 to 30." Wood said worriedly as they gathered in the dressing room. "Tony, Quidditch is the most unpredictable game you'll ever see. If they somehow catch the Snitch, we're done."

"They won't." Dante answered confidently.

"We've got a lead of 70 points, Oliver, we can't turn back now!" said Angelina. "Tony, how's your- um, everything?"

Dante smirked at that. "C'mon, takes more than that to get me down."

"Obviously." said Katie. "Is anyone surprised that Jordan still doesn't understand what we're doing? I thought it should've been obvious."

"We are." said one of the twins.

"But he does now." said the other one.

They saw a gaping Lee Jordan standing in the doorway, and everyone laughed as the Live Commentator stumbled for words.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The players pulled up, and they immediately saw the difference in strategy. Ravenclaws had taken up a different formation with one of the Beaters between the two Seekers at all times, while Thomson was on the opposite side of the pitch, looking around for the Snitch.

"They figured out what we're doing. They know Tony wouldn't catch the Snitch just yet so they're just blocking him from Thomson to keep him from interfering!" Wood breathed. "Fred, keep an eye on that Seeker."

"Will do." said Fred.

"And now that they caught on, they'll do everything they can to make sure the lead's below 100." Angelina muttered.

There were collective groans at that.

"Well," said the all-optimistic Tony, "We'll just have to show them that everything we've got is more than a match for everything they've got."

They flew apart, and the match resumed.

The Ravenclaws were playing dirty, that much immediately became clear. A bludger nearly hit Wood, the Keeper just dodging the ball. They stopped attacking Dante, and so Dante took matters into his own hands.

As Randolph intercepted a particularly long pass from Alicia to Angelina near the Ravenclaw defense, Dante flew towards them, dodging a bludger by leaning to the left, and stood up on his broom.

"Below him, Angelina!" he yelled.

She did as he asked, and Randolph looked confused. Then his eyes widened on seeing Dante speeding towards him.

Holding onto the Quaffle for dear life, he dived down, but Dante didn't lose sight of him as he jumped up from his broom and over Randolph's head. The tip of the broom slammed into the Quaffle and the ball was knocked out from under Randolph's arm. The broom went through the gap between Randolph's shoulder and forearm and Dante landed neatly on top of it, looking down to see Angelina catching the ball. She was nearly to the goal post. He flew towards the post, but she had already taken the shot on goal and-

"TEN MORE POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!" cried Jordan "Incredible display of skill from Tony Redgrave! Their team is leading by 110-30…if I had to say, I'd say they were trying to win the House Cup!"

A few moments passed while everyone let that sink in, and then the Gryffindors erupted.

Dante grinned at that, and looked around for everyone else. Alicia had just intercepted a pass from Davies, and she was again going towards the goalpost- but a bludger caught her on the head and she dropped it, rubbing at her head. It was scooped up by Stretton who flew straight towards Wood- Wood came out from his vantage point once he saw that Stretton was going one-on-one. But Stretton neatly dodged around him and…

"HE SHOOTS INTO AN EMPTY POST! 110 to 40!"

Damn. Dante bit his lip, thinking. He couldn't touch any ball except the Snitch according to the rules(5), but his broom could, so maybe…

"Surely that was the Snitch!" cried Lee Jordan.

On the other side of the pitch, Thomson had suddenly sped up, going like a bullet towards the Gryffindor post. Dante had no way of going to him that fast, not with the Nimbus 2000 being so hopelessly slow…in his opinion, anyway.

He shot off. From the corner of his eye, he saw the bludger that immediately came his way – the Beater between the two Seekers was definitely doing his job - and he pulled his broom slightly backward and glanced once at Thomson to figure out his trajectory. The bludger was about to pass him by when he set his angle and slammed his broom into it in top speed, and watched as it deflected off the Gryffindor post and hit Thomson's broom. The broom was thrown to the side, Thomson clinging onto it for dear life.

The Snitch went towards the ground, and Dante knew the humans couldn't see it anymore.

Gryffindor's cheers filled the air, and even the Ravenclaws seemed too stunned to be disappointed.

"Merlin's beard, if that wasn't one of the most outstanding displays of skills Hogwarts had ever seen, I'll resign!" cried Jordan.

Dante waved at the screaming crowd and turned to look at the board. Gryffindors had scored again when he was occupied, and the point difference was back to 80.

"Ravenclaw takes possession, and Davies is flying like the wind up there! Dodges Katie- dodges a bludger- Dodges Bell- whoops, that had to hurt- bludger to the face, ball falls to Alicia- Gryffindor back in possession, now to Angelina- she passes by Randolph - nearly to the post- plays a beautiful one-two with Katie- shoots- off the post- KATIE SLAMS HOME THE REBOUND! 130-40!"

Dante saw the Snitch go towards a dangerous position- speeding towards Alicia Spinnet who was passing by Thomson. He grimaced and started to fly at full speed towards the Ravenclaw Seeker. He had to be close to him now, just in case he saw the snitch

Thomson tried to keep a good distance, but Dante's broom was simply faster. He maneuvered around the bludgers and quickly caught up to the boy, and flashed him a slight smile.

"Your broom alright?" he asked.

Thomson glared at him. Dante looked around the pitch, whistling innocently.

"You know," he said, "You guys got nothing to gain from this match. You can just give up."

"STRETTON SCORES! 130-50!"

"You were saying?" Thomson turned around and started looking for the Snitch.

"Nothing." Dante put his hands on his hips in annoyance, using his legs to direct his broom. Well, that was a setback.

"ALICIA SCORES! 140-50!"

He flashed a grin at his rival. "You were saying?"

"We still have our chance." Thomson answered, looking flustered. "Flying so well doesn't mean you're better at spotting the Snitch."

Dante pulled up to intercept a pass from Davies to Stretton, sending the Quaffle to Angelina with his broom without touching it with his hand.

"There he is- at it again! I haven't seen better skills even during last year's World Cup!" Jordan was yelling himself hoarse. "And so it's Angelina! Passes to Alicia- back to Angelina- and away she flies to the goal post…"

Dante turned to watch Alicia and noticed the golden flash a split second before the others, glittering some meters away from the Ravenclaw audience tower which was some meters left of the post. But Thomson had seen it too, and he dived after it. Dante followed swiftly, looking around, but there was no bludger whatsoever. The two of them sped after the Snitch, brooms almost locked together. Dante finally saw a bludger, sent Thomson's way by Fred, but being so close to the Seeker, there was no way for him to send Thomson off course using that. The bludger didn't reach them, though, and Dante glanced up to see the bludger beaten away by a Ravenclaw before it could reach its target- and then his gaze focused behind the Beater where he could see Angelina, slowly being surrounded by the Ravenclaw team, but she was really close to the post, but the snitch was really close to him too, and he made a split second decision.

He let the broom fly at full speed in the opposite way and leapt forward towards the Snitch, as high into the air as he could manage. He looked to see the broom scattering the Ravenclaw team, and Angelina throwing the ball- she had an empty post but if she missed, they'd never win this match….not with Dante without a broom…he started to fall…the ball went through the hoop…he landed on the tip of Thomson's still speeding broom and pushed his feet against the front of the broom and propelled himself forward to the Snitch.

"ANGELINA SCORES AND IT'S 150 to fif…TONY'S FREE-FALLING!"

The crowd gasped as one when Tony Redgrave seemed to grasp at the air and then start to plummet to the ground. Alicia dived down, but she was too far away, and then Tony found his feet on-

"Now he's standing on a bludger, of all things…and he opens his fist, and…HE'S GOT THE SNITCH! 300 to 50! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE HOUSE CUP AND THE QUIDDITCH CUP!"

The whole stadium seemed to explode with thunderous applause. Dante jumped on Fred's broom that was coming after the bludger, and was brought into a crushing hug. They were immediately joined by George, and then Wood came soaring through the air, crying as he put his arms around them. And then the three Chasers completed the circle, all screaming, "We've done it! We've done it!" They all touched down, yelling their throats raw.

The supporters were all running towards them now, Dante sought out Ron and Hermione, both yelling something that he couldn't really make out. And then they were all picked up by the supporters and taken to the stands, where Dumbledore was waiting with the Quidditch Cup.

When they were all put down, Dante looked at Professor McGonagall. She was crying, but also smiling widely, and when their eyes met, she shook her head and laughed. Dante raised his eyebrows, and she nodded in playful defeat.

His eyes found Snape's, who looked bitter. Dante snorted in laughter and mouthed, 'Baby." The Head of Slytherin House's look changed to one of indignation, and Dante grinned at him in good humor before turning to Dumbledore. The old wizard was handing the trophy to a weeping Wood, and when Wood gave the trophy to Dante and he lifted it up, he just had a glimpse of the Headmaster's proudly smiling face. Dante's face hurt from the wide grin that spread across his face, and then he was laughing as the Gryfiindors lifted him even higher into the air.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The celebrations continued all night.

Dante had spent the whole evening laughing and joking with everyone he encountered. It was as though they were all on high, laughing and grinning at the slightest provocation. Even the expulsion was pushed to the back of his mind for one day, and he even went so far as to finish a whole box of honeydukes sweets that Fred and George had picked up from somewhere.

"Amazing stuff, mate." Ron complimented Dante for about the hundredth time that evening. Hermione nodded in acknowledge, her eyes sparkling with joy and unconcealed pride.

Fred raised a glass on the opposite side of the room. "To the future Seeker of the England team!"

"Hear, hear!" the others chanted.

Dante glanced at the glasses. "C'mon Hermione, can't I try at least one?" he whined. "It's only firewhisky! You got me to drink wine back in Snape's room, and I didn't get even a bit drunk!"

"No." she said sternly.

"Tough luck, mate." Ron looked wistful. "I did try to get one, but Percy caught me."

"Speaking of…" Dante muttered. Percy was walking in with a purposeful look.

"Time to close it up, students!" Percy called.

"Yes, Professor Percy." said one of the twins, and laughter rippled through the room.

"It's not funny, Gryffindors." Percy tried again. "It's nearly sunrise!"

"Yes, Slytherin Percy." said the other twin.

The laughter became twice as loud as a red-faced Percy struggled to find words.

**1: Yes, I did have to scribble in my Notepad for at least a half hour before I got this right. It's been heavily implied in canon that Quidditch points have something to do with the House points. I had to get the percentage right, though, so as not to make the required amount too small or way too big, which would have made the match drag on and on.**

**2. In case anyone didn't understand, Dante was referring to the small 'incident' in the Forbidden Forest.**

**3. My own OC, the only one in this chapter and the only one in all my fics to have a name!**

**4. That's the way all the Football leagues work(to the best of my knowledge and not counting the Champion's League). As long as you've got a point system in a tournament, you have a table, right? And as long as you've got four teams all playing only three times, there's no guarantee that the last match will be between title contenders.**

**5. If they could, then surely the Seekers would've assisted the Chasers and the Keepers until they could see the Snitch? And besides, it would've really given too much advantage to Dante.**

**So there you go! A happy, happy chapter! The longest, too, as shown by the stats! Truth be told, I'm the most proud of this chapter out of all the chapters I've written. I hope you all loved reading it as much as I loved writing it!**

**Next chapter: The one before the Epilogue, so you can understand what the tone should be like!**

**Reply to unsigned review(s):**

Crossover Junkie: Oh. Not a surprise, then? Anyway, thanks for the compliment!

**qwertyuiop: Thanks for the kind words. I really kept Snape in character? Wow, I feel so awesome! And here's the Quidditch Final. Be sure to leave a review!**

**Let me know your thoughts! Please? *puppy eyes***


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